We can never flee the misery that is within us.

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

She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings. She entertains you, whatever you want. The rest is shadows, the rest is secret.

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

Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are.

Flowers that grow where old ones have withered serve to remind us that death will one day come to us all.

If you keep your destiny in mind, every moment in life becomes an opportunity for moving closer to it.