Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard.

Never trust a man who carries a handkerchief, I always say. One of many prejudicial rules of thumb.

This uneasiness comes over me from time to time, and I feel as if I've somehow been pieced together from two different puzzles.

This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew what was coming.

I get irritated, I get upset. Especially when I'm in a hurry. But I see it all as part of our training. To get irritated is to lose our way in life.

One last word of advice, though, Mr. Okada, though you may not want to hear this. There are things in this world it is better not to know about. Of course, those are the very things that people most want to know about. It's strange.

sometimes I think I've got this hard kernel in my heart, and nothing much can get inside it. I doubt if I can really love anybody.