It's less a matter of looking the other way than of closing our eyes to what we can't stop from happening.

I don't know when we'll see each other again or what the world will be like when we do. We may both have seen many horrible things. But I will think of you every time I need to be reminded that there is beauty and goodness in the world.

Friendship is a precious thing, Sayuri. One mustn't throw it away.

This is why dreams can be such dangerous things: they smolder on like a fire does, and sometimes they consume us completely.

Seeing him again after so long awakened something inside me. I was surprised to find myself feeling sad rather than joyful, as I would have imagined.

Anyone can have a good day. The question is what do you do on a bad day. That's when you're being tested. In a very tangible sense, a bad day shows your innermost essence more than a good day.

You know, the men go to tea houses with the expectation that they will have a nice quiet evening and not read about it the next morning in the newspaper.