Madara Uchiha, even to this day, is considered one of the best anime characters from the Naruto franchise.
A man and a villain who despite his actions, fans feel they can understand his point of view and that he makes sense.
This is typical of Naruto as a franchise (characters like Pain for example).
Let’s talk about:
- Lessons.
- Quotes.
And ultimately, the ways Madara Uchiha thinks that can be used as life lessons,
Here’s a list:
1. Being “hopeful” is another way of admitting defeat
“The concept of hope is nothing more than giving up. A word that holds no true meaning.” – Madara Uchiha
In real life, the word “hope” is thrown around so much, that it’s battered, bruised, and has no chance of becoming anything worthwhile.
Think about how the word “hope” is used, and the types of people who use it.
People say things like:
- I “hope” things will work out.
- I “hope” I’ll get rich.
- I “hope” I get that job.
- I “hope” life turns out ok.
- I “hope” I meet the right person.
- I “hope” I close some sales and get some business this month.
And the list goes on forever.
Hope is almost a subconscious way of admitting defeat, or saying out loud that you have NO idea how to succeed and bring to fruition the things you want out of life.
So you rely on hope to bring all your dreams, goals, ambitions and desires to fruition since there is no other way you can imagine to make it a reality by your own hands.
Hope is a useless word in this context, and as Madara says, it truly is a word of no meaning.
Hope without:
- Action.
- Hard work.
- Effort.
- Strategy.
- Tactics.
- Thinking things through.
- Planning.
- Revising your efforts.
- Putting in the work, effort, and time.
- Being consistent and persistent.
Hope without these things in place is meaningless. More importantly, when a person “hopes” things will come to fruition, they’re usually NOT doing any of the things in the list I mentioned.
These things are far from their mind or their daily and weekly habits.
Those who are actually doing the work and making the effort in all kinds of ways, as well as going over their actions (what worked or didn’t, what could be changed, etc) are not relying on hope and wishing things into existence.
Hope, praying, and wishing are wasteful without any real sustained effort. Let alone belief.
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2. People let their pain, trauma, or failures define their reality
“Wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this world. The longer you live, the more you realize that in this reality only pain, suffering and futility exist.” – Madara Uchiha
There are two parts to this quote from Madara Uchiha.
- On one hand, he’s accepted his reality and is justifying it through his experiences.
- On the other hand, it’s true that pain and suffering are guarantees in life.
The irony of the last part is you’ll suffer less if you refuse to let your pain, trauma, and suffering define you as a person.
A person who refuses to allow their:
- Experiences.
- Trauma.
- Pain.
- Rejections.
- Failures.
And anything negative to stand in their way is a person who will end up with more in life than someone who doesn’t.
That’s just a fact.
We’re too quick to judge ourselves harshly and to see the world through our tiny lenses just because of the tough experiences we face.
But doing this only limits and prevents you from having everything you want, or at the least, prevents you from having much more than you would have otherwise.
Pain and suffering might be a natural part of the human experience or any living experience, but they can also be used as leverage to become stronger, better, wiser, smarter, more accomplished, and so on.
3. People struggle to be their true selves
“People cannot show each other their true feelings. Fear, suspicion, and resentment never subside.” – Madara Uchiha
If there is one thing that is true about people, it’s that they struggle to show their true nature (positive or negative).
Most people struggle because of insecurities.
Those insecurities come from the fear of being judged.
That “fear” of being judged comes from past experiences where people have been judged, and they disliked how it made them feel.
Those “past” feelings remain, no matter how much a person evolves, becomes stronger, or otherwise, and so the cycle repeats itself.
And because the cycle repeats itself, you can sometimes never know who someone really is, or if the person who you think is being real is actually as real as they portray themselves to be.
This is also true for someone who appears to be dishonest but may be more honest than you realize since they’re making an effort that goes unnoticed.
Relevant: How To Be More Confident Like Anime Characters
4. Love and hatred are two sides of the same coin
“When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred.” – Madara Uchiha
It’s amazing how you can start out loving someone or liking someone, only for that person to do something evil to you, which then brings out the hatred within yourself.
Is it justified?
Maybe it is. Maybe it depends.
That’s not the point. The point is both love and hate are brother and sister. They’re so close that it can go either way, and it’s too easy for one to cross over to the other side.
It’s harder for hatred to become love than it is for love to become hatred, you could argue, but both are easy to switch from based on how the world treats you.
It also comes down to:
- Your environment.
- How you were treated.
- Racism.
- Discrimination.
- How early you deal with these experiences.
- How you interpret these experiences.
And more importantly, how you DECIDE to move forward in spite of the pain or trauma you had to endure, however many times that might be.
Hate is even possible from the most loving people who appear angelic and kind in the right circumstances (or wrong). It takes a strong person to not fall victim to the risk of hating someone after loving or simply liking them before the fact.
5. Winners and losers will always exist
“In this world, wherever there is light – there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars, and hatred is born to protect love.” – Madara Uchiha
Conflict, hatred, fighting, or in-fighting, violence, and everything related is a result of the “winners vs losers” concept.
Sometimes it’s not so extreme, but sometimes it is to this extreme.
Take a simple fight for example.
Two guys could fight it out to sort out their differences, but depending on one person’s ego, that could lead to stabbings, beatdowns, and even murder, as a result of losing and not being able to handle the shame.
In another context, in business, you have people who feel entitled to having more than people they dislike (who they consider “winners”), and so they go out of their way to tarnish their image, brand, etc.
Then there’s the concept of being rich or not being rich. Some who feel they deserve more and shouldn’t have to struggle will scream “Eat the rich”, and even winners can become hateful and do the equivalent to the so-called losers.
You get to decide whether you wanna remain a loser, become a winner, or change your mindset ultimately.
That’s the beauty of it. You can always go from the dark side to the light, and from a loser to a winner, but it all comes down to your mindset.
Regardless of your choice, you will always have to deal with the fact that “winning” will always attract hatred and maybe even necessary conflict that you may not be able to avoid.
6. Humans are hypocrites by nature
“Man seeks peace, yet at the same time yearning for war… Those are the two realms belonging solely to man. Thinking of peace whilst spilling blood is something that only humans could do. They’re two sides of the same coin… to protect something… another must be sacrificed.” – Madara Uchiha
Only humans can go around killing, slaughtering, and oppressing others while framing it as “necessary” or heroic.
It’s the hypocritical nature of human beings.
This is also why self-improvement matters, and why so many of us try to improve ourselves. After all, nobody wants to remain a hypocrite, and no one wants to admit they’re hypocrites out loud (or that they can be).
The point?
If you don’t set your expectations too high when it comes to other people, you can’t be disappointed when they contradict themselves or when they don’t even attempt to hold themselves to a better standard.
Thus goes for life in general, to the more extreme side of things involving war, violence, oppression, and so many other topics.
Fight against it, but don’t get lost in the sauce.
7. It’s not always smart to bite off more than you can chew
“Don’t improvise what you cannot handle.” – Madara Uchiha
Arrogance and pride go hand in hand. We all have pride and we need it to accomplish goals or reach for something better and bigger.
But when pride becomes too prideful, it becomes arrogance, and that leads you to make stupid decisions that you knew weren’t smart to begin with.
Or in other words, biting off more than you can chew.
Self awareness matters when it comes to things like this. It’s good to bite off more than you can chew IF you have a plan to chomp it down without hurting yourself in the process.
Like taking out a loan for a business that seems risky, but because you have knowledge you can pull it off. Or going that extra REP at the gym, or investing a certain amount of money you’re uncomfortable with, etc.
The key is always self awareness and mitigating as much as you can if you’re gonna take the leap.
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