A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm.

To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not.

Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like.

Light matters should be dealt with seriously. Serious matters should be dealt with lightly.

The way of the Samurai is found in death.

Bushido is realised in the presence of death. In the case of having to choose between life and death you should choose death. There is no other reasoning.

In the eyes of mercy, no one should have hateful thoughts. Feel pity for the man who is even more at fault. The area and size of mercy is limitless.

Go ahead and gamble a lie. A person who will not tell you seven lies within a hundred yards is useless as a man.

The end is important in all things.

One should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths.

I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.

For Christians . . . an unreflective faith is not possible if we take seriously the injunction to love God with the mind as well as the heart and soul.

The future you have, tomorrow, won't be the same future you had, yesterday.

Even more real than the disaster that has befallen our brothers and sisters must be our own willingness to sacrifice and help with the healing.

Hatred of producers of wealth still flourishes and has become, in fact, the racism of the intelligentsia.

Up to 80 percent of the fish that we catch spend at least part of their lives in estuaries.

Musical acts that feign enthusiasm for what they're doing the guitarist who jumps up and down, like it's choreographed are so transparently vacuous.

Practice with your fingers and you need all day. Practice with your mind and you will do as much in 1 1/2 hours.

I think that we, women, are so often defined by who our husbands are and what our husbands do. And it's time for that to end.

Sometimes it is hell, trying to get to heaven.

As artists, the pleasure is to really have your work resonate and mean something. Art takes its inspiration from reality.