Eiji Yoshikawa Quotes

Fighting isn't all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills.

Love was like a toothache.

The greatest happiness of life was to stand at the difficult border between success and failure.

When a woman dislikes the man who is courting her, she parries him cleverly, like a willow in the wind.

Danger was the grindstone on which the swordsman whetted his spirit. Enemies were teachers in disguise.

The summit is believed to be the object of the climb. But its true object--the joy of living--is not in the peak itself, but in the adversities encountered on the way up.

Not only must a warrior be strong with his bow, but he must have a heart full of pity for all living creatures.

It is easy to crush an enemy outside oneself but impossible to defeat an enemy within.

Enemies were teachers in disguise.

I wouldn't say Musashi is ordinary. But he is. That's what's extraordinary about him. He is not content to rely on whatever natural gifts he may have. Knowing he is ordinary, he is constantly trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he's had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody's talking about his 'God-given talent.' That's how men who don't try very hard comfort themselves.

It's no good to want to win still more when you have already won.

Every act is an expression of one's self.

Great character is forged through hardships.

The line between life and death is not thicker than an eyelid.

I want to dedicate myself to training and discipline. I want to spend every moment of every day working to improve myself.

It's interesting, isn't it? Being in the world.

I want to lead an important life. I want to do it because I was born a human being.

There's not much benefit in attacking an empty house.

...you're going to find people from all over the country, everyone hungry for money and position. You won't make a name for yourself just doing what the next man does. You'll have to distinguish yourself in some way.

it is easy to surpass a predecessor, but difficult to avoid being surpassed by a successor.

Hold on to your life and make it honest and brave.

Monks transgress the Laws of the Buddha, stir up the common people, store wealth and weapons, and spread rumors; under the guise of religion, they are nothing more than self-serving agitators.

Sincerity, even if it speaks with a stutter, will sound eloquent when inspired.

The bitter winds in February were sometimes called the First East Winds, but the longing for spring somehow made them seem more piercing.

Think what you like. There are people who die by remaining alive and others who gain life by dying.

See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course. Prayers cannot halt the revolving of nature. It is the same with human life. Victory and defeat are one in the vast stream of life. Victory is the beginning of defeat, and who can rest safely in victory? Impermanence is the nature of all things of this world. Even you will find your ill fortunes too will change. It is easy to understand the impatience of the old, whose days are numbered, but why should you young ones fret when the future is yours?

The truth of the scholar, alone in his study, does not always accord with what the world at large considers to be true.

To Kiyomori each stall, each soul here seemed borne under by the crushing weight of the world; everyone here was a pitiful weed, trodden underfoot -- a conglomeration of human lives putting down roots in this slime, living and letting live in the struggle to survive; and he was stirred by the fearful and magnificent courage communicated by the scene.

People tend to be put off by the idea of selling sex, but if you spend a winter's night with one of them and talk with her about her family and so on, you're likely to find she's just like any other woman.

The world is always full of the sound of waves. The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?

A wise man who cultivates wisdom may sometimes drown in it.

Don't yield! Keep up your courage! The same sun looks down on all of us!

If a man wanted to put the entire universe in his breast, he couldn't do it with his chest stuck out.

The world is a stone wall ... and they have put the stones so close together that there is not a single crack through which one may enter.

Oh, you crows! Feast away! What a spread! Soup straight from the eye sockets! And thick red sake! But don't have too much Or you'll surely get drunk.

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, food was more important than a woman's suffering.

To the courtiers flushed with wine, life was pleasure, and pleasure life.

It does happen, of course, that the priesthood has been on bad terms with womankind for some three thousand years. You see, Buddhism teaches that women are evil. Fiends. Messengers of hell. I've spent years immersed in the scriptures, so it's no accident that you and I fight all the time.