Quotes from Eiji Yoshikawa

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Enemies were teachers in disguise.

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

Is that so? He who lives in the mountains years for the city, and the city-dweller would rather live in the mountains," the Abbot chuckled, "and nothing is ever to one's liking...

Should misfortune visit the Court, that can only be the result of its continued abuses. If the palace is attacked, that can only be the result of misgovernment. I can hardly be held responsible for the outcome.

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

Anywhere there is life, there are eyes. And things, too, speak to those who have ears to hear.

True courage knows fear. It knows how to fear that which should be feared. Honest people value life passionately, they hang on to it like a precious jewel. And they pick the right time and place to surrender it, to die with dignity.

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

To him, any place could serve as home—more than that: wherever he happened to be was the universe.

I can only bow to the will of the heaven, but not to the will of these men.

If the talents I was born with are the right ones, I may someday achieve my goal. If not, I may go through life being as stupid as I am now.

A day in a man's life is constructed according to whether he accepts or rejects flashes of inspiration.

Still, in a fight like that, you never know. There's a superhuman element involved. All warriors have to face it; winning or losing is partly a matter of luck.

If the young cannot harbor great dreams in their souls, who can?

People were born with two hands; why not use both of them? As it was, swordsmen fought with only one sword, and often one hand. This made sense, so long as everybody followed the same practice. But if one combatant were to employ two swords at once, what chance would an opponent using only one have of winning?

It was only leaves and branches.

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