Do not buy fertile fields for the sake of your descendants.
児孫のために美田を買わず。
Military Strategists
Saigō Takamori
The charismatic giant who led Japan's Meiji Restoration through force of personality and moral authority (1828-1877). Saigo Takamori toppled the shogunate, built the new army, then rebelled against the very government he created — dying as the 'last samurai' in a final stand for a vanishing world.
View this figure's profile
Saigō Takamori's Other Quotes
Related Quotes
Those lacking the spirit of independence inevitably depend on others, and those who depend on others inevitably fear them.
-- Fukuzawa Yukichi
Heaven does not create one person above or below another.
-- Fukuzawa Yukichi
Youth on horseback has passed. The world is at peace and white hairs multiply. With what remains of life that heaven permits, how can I not enjoy it?
-- Date Masamune
Wisdom that comes only after hearing another's opinion is not true wisdom.
-- Toyotomi Hideyoshi
A man who wants neither life, nor fame, nor rank, nor money — such a man is the hardest to deal with.
-- Saigō Takamori
Let the world say what it will about me. Only I know what I must do.
-- Sakamoto Ryōma