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

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

History is a chain of wills attempting to transmit something.

-- Yasushi Inoue

Within the motive for crime lies society's contradiction.

-- Seichō Matsumoto

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

-- Thomas Mann

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

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

-- Akiko Yosano