Quotes by Japanese Authors - Page 39

A feeling of liberation should contain a bracing feeling of negation, in which liberation itself is not negated. In the moment a captive lion steps out of his cage, he possesses a wider world than the lion who has known only the wilds. While he was in captivity, there were only two worlds to him; the world of the cage, and the world outside the cage. Now he is free. He roars. He attacks people. He eats them. yet he is not satisfied, for there is no third world that is neither the world of the cage nor the world outside the cage. Etsuko however, had in her heart not the slightest interest in these matters. Her soul knew nothing but affirmation.
Yukio Mishima
I wanna know what's going on out there. I'd hate to live my entire life inside the walls as an ignorant!
Hajime Isayama
In my heart, I am American, and I believe I have a free will and can take charge of my own destiny.
Ruth Ozeki
Depriving someone of their freedom is the most despicable act imaginable. Anyone guilty of it should be BURIED so they can rot and be reincarnated as roses.
Mizuho Kusanagi
Memories? Pheh. Those just get in the way of living.
Tsukumizu
Freedom is taking control of the rudder of your life.
Yukito Kishiro
Now for a good twelve-hour sleep, I told myself. Twelve solid hours. Let birds sing, let people go to work. Somewhere out there, a volcano might blow, Israeli commandos might decimate a Palestinian village. I couldn't stop it. I was going to sleep.
Haruki Murakami
Jean-Jacques Rousseau defined civilization as when people build fences. A very perceptive observation. And it’s true—all civilization is the product of a fenced-in lack of freedom. The Australian Aborigines are the exception, though. They managed to maintain a fenceless civilization until the seventeenth century. They’re dyed-in-the-wool free. They go where they want, when they want, doing what they want. Their lives are a literal journey. Walkabout is a perfect metaphor for their lives. When the English came and built fences to pen in their cattle, the Aborigines couldn’t fathom it. And, ignorant to the end of the principle at work, they were classified as dangerous and antisocial and were driven away, to the outback. So I want you to be careful. The people who build high, strong fences are the ones who survive the best. You deny that reality only at the risk of being driven into the wilderness yourself.
Haruki Murakami
We both have no home to go back to... so we can go anywhere at all.
Kazuya Minekura
The things that I've been longing for were nothing but dreams.
Mika Yamamori
Strictly speaking, it might not be a dream. It was reality, but a reality imbued with all the qualities of a dream. A different sphere of reality, where - at a special time and place - imagination had been set free.
Haruki Murakami
Failure and disillusionment are realities, but ideologies are made of dreams. And dreams, it would seem, do not fade easily.
Miyuki Miyabe
Uncle Yuichi: Something's moving up there? Hmm... I don't see anything. It was probably a satelite. Punpun (with gums flapping): Could I have discovered a new planet?!(long pause) Yuichi: Yes! This could be a great discovery! If it really is a new planet... It'll be called Planet PunPun! Punpun (slobbering again): Do you think I'll win the Nobel Prise?! Yuichi: You sure are a greedy kid.
Inio Asano
Daisuke was the sort of man who, once he was disturbed by something, no matter what, could not let go of it until he had pursued it to the utmost. Moreover, having the capacity to assess the folly of any given obsession, he was forced to be doubly conscious of it. Three of four years ago he had tackled the question of the process whereby his waking mind entered the realm of dreams. At night, when he had gotten under the covers and begun to doze off nicely, he would immediately think, this is it, this is how I fall asleep. No sooner had he thought of this than he was wide awake. When he had managed to doze off again, he would immediately think, here it is. Night after night, he was plagued by his curiosity and would repeat the same procedure two or three times. In the end, he became disgusted in spite of himself. He wanted somehow to escape his agony. Moreover, he was thoroughly impressed by the extent of his folly. To appeal to his conscious mind in order to apprehend his unconscious, and to try to recollect both at the same time was, as James had put it, analogous to lighting a candle to examine the dark, or stopping a top in order to study is movements; at that rate, it stood to reason that he would never again be able to sleep. He knew all this, but when night came, he still thought, now...
Sōseki Natsume
If I can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition I have is nothing but talk! Luffy must be the man who becomes the Pirate King!Roronoa Zoro
Eiichirō Oda
In this world of dreams, drifting off still more; and once again speaking and dreaming of dreams. Just let it be.
Ryōkan
It's all a question of imagination. Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine.
Haruki Murakami
If only I could fallsound asleep and wake up in my old reality!
Haruki Murakami
I have these realistic dreams and snap wide awake in the middle of the night. And for a while I can't work out what's real and what isn't... That kind of feeling. Do you have any idea what I'm saying?
Haruki Murakami
Write it as a dream, read it as a goal.
Sakurai Sho
‎"Those who give up dreams, do injury to their own hearts and cannot possibly enjoy a profound sense of fulfillment in the end.
Daisaku Ikeda
Have your dream...What you need now more than anything is discipline. Cast off mere words. Words turn into stone. (from Thailand)
Haruki Murakami
Don't tell me anymore. You should have your dream, as the old woman told you to. I understand how you feel, but if you put those feelings into words they will turn into lies. (from Thailand)
Haruki Murakami
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But it was not until much later that I was able to get any real sleep. In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment.
Haruki Murakami
There are symbolic dreams-- dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities -- realities that symbolize a dream. Symbols are what you might call the honorary town councillors of the worm universe. In the worm universe, there is nothing unusual about a dairy cow seeking a pair of pliers. A cow is bound to get her pliers sometime. It has nothing to do with me.
Haruki Murakami
I'm watching a dream I'll never wake up from.-Spike Speigel
Keiko Nobumoto
Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.
Murasaki Shikibu
Man is a genius when he is dreaming.
Akira Kurosawa
In dreams begins responsiblities.
Haruki Murakami
In dreams you don't need to make any distinctions between things. Not at all. Boundaries don't exist. So in dreams there are hardly ever collisions. Even if there are, they don't hurt. Reality is different. Reality bites. Reality, reality.
Haruki Murakami
Dreams come from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn't control you--you should control them.
Haruki Murakami
I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.
Haruki Murakami
The answer is dreams. Dreaming on and on. Entering the world of dreams and never coming out. Living in dreams for the rest of time.
Haruki Murakami
Gentlemen, I like war. Gentlemen, I love war.I like genocide. I like blitzkrieg.I like aggressive war. I like defensive war.I like sieges. I like breaking through.I like withdrawing. I like cleaning up.I like retreating.In moors. On highways. In trenches.In plains. On tundra. In desert.On sea. In sky. In mud.In marshes.I love every aspect of war that takes place on Earth.
Kohta Hirano
..there was a moment when the living room vanished and I saw a great, mushroom-shaped cloud rising into a blue sky. I saw it quite distinctly.
Masuji Ibuse
Where once we fought for land and God, we now fought to avenge fallen comrades, themselves slaughtered in vengeance. Where could it end? Babes growing to men knowing only days of war.
Kazuo Ishiguro
Be resolved that honor is heavier than the mountains and death lighter than the feather.
Yasuo Kuwahara
Ever since you and I were boys of fifteen, I have been in countless battles, from skirmishes to giant wars that determined the fate of nations; if there is one thing I have learned from all that experience, Garanth, it is that battles are alive. Battles are living things. As with beasts, you must try to know them, you must handle them with care and some love, but you must never take your eyes off them, or they will go for your throat. Battles are wild beasts that can never be truly tamed, Garanth. You need both a whip and meat if you want them to turn on your foes and not yourself. The general . . . does not understand this.
Kaoru Kurimoto
Seek only to preserve life -- your own and those of others. Life alone is sacred.
Yasuo Kuwahara
War is when people kill one another, right? Why would they do that?
Tsukumizu
Perhaps one day, all these conflicts will end, and it won't be because of great statesmen or churches or organisations like this one. It'll be because people have changed. They'll be like you, Puffin. More a mixture. So why not become a mongrel? It's healthy.
Kazuo Ishiguro
Fighting isn't all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills.
Eiji Yoshikawa
Fain would we remain barbarians, if our claim to civilization were to be based on the gruesome glory of war.
Kakuzō Okakura
I've learned that from a war ignited by revenge, nothing can be born, but sorrow. - Aladdin
Shinobu Ohtaka
In this world, whenever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exist, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love.
Masashi Kishimoto
Last year nothing happenedThe year before nothing happenedAnd the year before that nothinghappened.
Osamu Dazai
But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.
Hayao Miyazaki
Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.
Haruki Murakami
I all of a sudden got to feeling like talking to people. Whenever I look at the ocean, I always want to talk to people, but when I’m talking to people, I always want to look at the ocean. I’m weird like that.
Haruki Murakami
I was kind of tired, I guess, of knowing people are flesh. Flesh and water.
Banana Yoshimoto
Don’t you see? You and he might never cross paths again. Of course, a chance meeting could occur, and I hope it happens. I really do, for your sake. But realistically speaking, you have to see there’s a huge possibility you’ll never be able to meet him again. And even if you do meet, he might already be married to somebody else. He might have two kids. Isn’t that so? And in that case, you may have to live the rest of your life alone, never being joined with the one person you love in all the world. Don’t you find that scary?
Haruki Murakami
People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly.
Kakuzō Okakura
Can'ttrustpeople. Won'tdoanygood. They'llkillyoueverytime. They'llkilleachother. They'llkilleveryone.
Haruki Murakami
People lose fifty million skin cells every day. The cells get scraped off and turn into invisible dust, and disappear into the air. Maybe we are nothing but skin cells as far as the world is concerned.
Haruki Murakami
It isn't that I dislike artists, but I can't stand anyone who puts on those ponderous airs of a man of character.
Osamu Dazai
I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.
Banana Yoshimoto
No matter how pathetic or pitiful, every human is fated to have one moment in their lives in which they can change their own destiny.
Takayuki Yamaguchi
IT IS QUITE ENOUGH IF A HUMAN BEING HAS BUT ONE FIELD WHERE HE OR SHE IS STRONG. IF A HUMAN BEING WERE STRONG IN EVERY FIELD, IT WOULDN'T BE NICE FOR OTHER PEOPLE, WOULD IT?
Akira Kurosawa
When I pretended to be precocious, people started the rumor that I was precocious. When I acted like an idler, rumor had it I was an idler. When I pretended I couldn't write a novel, people said I couldn't write. When I acted like a liar, they called me a liar. When I acted like a rich man, they started the rumor I was rich. When I feigned indifference, they classed me as the indifferent type. But when I inadvertently groaned because I was really in pain, they started the rumor that I was faking suffering. The world is out of joint.
Osamu Dazai
People are... Full of contradictions. They're lonely. And then they're not. They're missed. And then they're not.
Kou Yoneda