The origins of Bruce Lee's famed statement "be water" from a fake US TV series - South China Morning Post. James Franciscus and Bruce Lee featured as James Franciscus and Bruce Lee in the American TV series "Longstreet" (1971). Lee portrayed martial arts instructor Li Tsung, while Franciscus was his blind pupil. When asked about his favorite technique, Lee replied that he liked hitting people with no bone structure. After some thought, he added: "It is best not to fight alone. If necessary, join together to be strong." This is where most translations stop. However, the original Chinese version has more to it. It says that he used real-life examples of water elements for comparison: "我跟水有什么不同�'this' is how Bruce Lee described himself during an interview with James Franciscus (his student) on the American television series "Longstreet" in 1971."