One only sees what one already knows and understands.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

Whoever strives with all his might, that man we can redeem.

The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country.

-- Yasunari Kawabata

Why do beauty and sorrow correspond so deeply with one another?

-- Yasunari Kawabata

The mastery of writing is ultimately an aesthetics, and it comes down to whether one can create one's own style.

-- Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

We Orientals create beauty by generating shadows in places that are nothing special.

-- Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Since the human heart is invisible to the eye...

-- Murasaki Shikibu

The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.

-- Charles Baudelaire