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Eiji Yoshikawa QUOTES

Eiji Yoshikawa QUOTES

1 " 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 , Musashi

2 " The summit is believed to be the object of the climb. But its true object—the joy of living—is not in the peak itself, but in the adversities encountered on the way up. There are valleys, cliffs, streams, precipices, and slides, and as he walks these steep paths, the climber may think he cannot go any farther, or even that dying would be better than going on. But then he resumes fighting the difficulties directly in front of him, and when he is finally able to turn and look back at what he has overcome, he finds he has truly experienced the joy of living while on life's very road. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

3 " It's interesting, isn't it? Being in the world. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

4 " Her only weapons were her tears. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

5 " She needed intimacy and a sense of partaking in, not just observing, real life. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Musashi

6 " The greatest happiness of life was to stand at the difficult border between success and failure. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

7 " If a man wanted to put the entire universe in his breast, he couldn't do it with his chest stuck out. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

8 " Anywhere there is life, there are eyes. And things, too, speak to those who have ears to hear. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

9 " A day in a man’s life is constructed according to whether he accepts or rejects flashes of inspiration. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

10 " It's no good to want to win still more when you have already won. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan

11 " Manusia ingin percaya bahwa mereka hidup dan bertindak berdasarkan kemauan mereka sendiri, namun pada kenyataannya mereka hanya dipaksa oleh keadaan. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

12 " See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course. Prayers cannot halt the revolving of nature. It is the same with human life. Victory and defeat are one in the vast stream of life. Victory is the beginning of defeat, and who can rest safely in victory? Impermanence is the nature of all things of this world. Even you will find your ill fortunes too will change. It is easy to understand the impatience of the old, whose days are numbered, but why should you young ones fret when the future is yours? "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

13 " Not only must a warrior be strong with his bow, but he must have a heart full of pity for all living creatures. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

14 " Don't yield! Keep up your courage! The same sun looks down on all of us! "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

15 " Call them robbers and cutthroats--were they not amiable enough when they had sufficient to fill their bellies? Something was out of joint in a world that drove these men to steal. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , The Heike Story: A Modern Translation of the Classic Tale of Love and War

16 " Die? Then so be it. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

17 " Is that so? He who lives in the mountains years for the city, and the city-dweller would rather live in the mountains," the Abbot chuckled, "and nothing is ever to one's liking... "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , The Heike Story: A Modern Translation of the Classic Tale of Love and War

18 " Should misfortune visit the Court, that can only be the result of its continued abuses. If the palace is attacked, that can only be the result of misgovernment. I can hardly be held responsible for the outcome. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

19 " I can only bow to the will of the heaven, but not to the will of these men. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa

20 " In the ashes on the hearth Saigyo traced and retraced the word, "pity." He had yet to learn to accept life with all its good and evils, to love life in all its manifestations by becoming one with nature. And for this he had abandoned home, wife, and child in that city of conflict. He had fled to save his own life, not for any grandiose dream of redeeming mankind; neither had he taken vows with the thoughts of chanting sutras to Buddha; nor did he aspire to brocaded ranks of the high prelates. Only by surrendering to nature could he best cherish his own life, learn how man should live, and therein find peace. And if any priest accused him of taking the vows out of self-love, not to purify the world and bring salvation to men, Saigyo was ready to admit that these charges were true and that he deserved to be reviled and spat upon as a false priest. Yet, if driven to answer for himself, he was prepared to declare that he who had not learned to love his own life could not love mankind, and that what he sought now was to love that life which was his. Gifts he had none to preach salvation or the precepts of Buddha; all that he asked was to be left to exist as humbly as the butterflies and the birds. "

― Eiji Yoshikawa , The Heike Story: A Modern Translation of the Classic Tale of Love and War