Isn't man but a blossom taken by wind, and only the mountains and the sea and the stars and this land of the gods everlasting?

Isn't man but a blossom taken by wind, and only the mountains and the sea and the stars and this land of the gods everlasting?

What you do with strangers is ignore them for. No second chance, no sorry I did it, never accept an apology, but never, ever get angry with strangers.

The scarcity of years does not necessitate lack of wisdom.

You never know . . . that's what makes life interesting.

You've commited murder just as much as Helene did. You killed a fly with a human head. She killed a human with a fly head.

How baffling it was that even the most cunning and clever people would frequently see only what they wanted to see, and would rarely look beyond the thinnest of facades. Or they would ignore reality, dismissing it as the facade. And then, when their whole world fell to pieces...they would tear their topknots or rend their clothes and bewail their karma, blaming gods or kami or luck or their lords or husbands or vassals-anything or anyone-but never themselves.