Kōbō Abe, The Box Man Quotes

You can only do what you can no matter how you try.

Clinging to one’s outward appearance interferes with living.

I want to spy on all sorts of places, and the box is a portable hole that occurred to me under the circumstances, it being impossible to punch holes throughout the world.

It’s a real handicap to have a face with shifty eyes.

When he saw the vista of the street reflected in the mirror in which he was looking, he was terror stricken. He had the impression that the whole view had turned into eyes that reproached him.