--- title: Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation description: "If there is always light, you don’t experience light anymore" canonical: https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-15T11:00:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:19:39.879Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation og:description: "If there is always light, you don’t experience light anymore" og:url: https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0b211194b012e4/698786e6f887dcca06e8af92/bruce-lee.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Bruce Lee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation twitter:description: "If there is always light, you don’t experience light anymore" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0b211194b012e4/698786e6f887dcca06e8af92/bruce-lee.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=3c5d02b5-a92d-4cdf-b132-259652e660a2&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 15, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Bruce Lee Bruce Lee Archive Photos—Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Apr 15, 2015 11:00 AM UTC Bruce Lee the philosopher brought us some insightful comments on [self-actualization](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/12/bruce-lee-self-actualization/). Now he’s back with more goodness. In[_Bruce Lee: Artist of Life_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0804832633/farnamstreet-20), Lee talks about the curative power of awareness. --- > “” --- **_This_** [**_piece_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/01/bruce-lee-self-regulation-versus-external-regulation/) **_originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **_Join over 50,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email_** [**_here_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**_._** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/"},"headline":"Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation","datePublished":"2015-04-15T11:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:19:39.879Z","description":"\"If there is always light, you don’t experience light anymore\"","url":"https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/","keywords":["Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0b211194b012e4/698786e6f887dcca06e8af92/bruce-lee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b0b211194b012e4/698786e6f887dcca06e8af92/bruce-lee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bruce Lee","caption":"Bruce Lee","creditText":"Archive Photos—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3772681/bruce-lee-self-regulation-external-regulation/","name":"Bruce Lee on Self Regulation Versus External Regulation"}}]}] ```