Lee believed that real combat was alive and dynamic. Circumstances in a fight change from millisecond to millisecond. Thus, he believed, pre-arranged patterns and techniques are not even close to adequate in dealing with such a changing situation. As an antidote to this line of thought, Lee once wrote an epitaph which read: 'In memory of a once fluid man, crammed and distorted by the classical mess.' The "classical mess" in this instance was what Lee thought of the "not too alive way of the classical kung fu styles".