If I refuse to be defeated by hardship, if only I stand firm, the world holds no terror for me.

I am like a wind-blown leaf, with nothing to compare to.

Within the motive for crime lies society's contradiction.

-- Seichō Matsumoto

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

-- Ernest Hemingway

Beauty is always discovered in the actualities of living.

-- Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

-- George Orwell

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

-- Thomas Mann

Have you never touched this soft skin, flushed with hot blood? How lonely you must be, preaching the Way.

-- Akiko Yosano