Eiji Yoshikawa Quotes

Love was like a toothache.

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

When a woman dislikes the man who is courting her, she parries him cleverly, like a willow in the wind.

Danger was the grindstone on which the swordsman whetted his spirit. Enemies were teachers in disguise.

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

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.

It is easy to crush an enemy outside oneself but impossible to defeat an enemy within.

Enemies were teachers in disguise.

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

Every act is an expression of one's self.

Great character is forged through hardships.

The line between life and death is not thicker than an eyelid.

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

I want to lead an important life. I want to do it because I was born a human being.

I want to dedicate myself to training and discipline. I want to spend every moment of every day working to improve myself.

There's not much benefit in attacking an empty house.

it is easy to surpass a predecessor, but difficult to avoid being surpassed by a successor.

Hold on to your life and make it honest and brave.

Monks transgress the Laws of the Buddha, stir up the common people, store wealth and weapons, and spread rumors; under the guise of religion, they are nothing more than self-serving agitators.

Sincerity, even if it speaks with a stutter, will sound eloquent when inspired.

The bitter winds in February were sometimes called the First East Winds, but the longing for spring somehow made them seem more piercing.

Think what you like. There are people who die by remaining alive and others who gain life by dying.

The truth of the scholar, alone in his study, does not always accord with what the world at large considers to be true.

A wise man who cultivates wisdom may sometimes drown in it.

Oh, you crows! Feast away! What a spread! Soup straight from the eye sockets! And thick red sake! But don't have too much Or you'll surely get drunk.

The world is a stone wall ... and they have put the stones so close together that there is not a single crack through which one may enter.

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

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, food was more important than a woman's suffering.

To the courtiers flushed with wine, life was pleasure, and pleasure life.

Her only weapons were her tears.

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

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

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