Matsuo Basho Quotes

I am one who eats breakfast gazing at morning glories.

Collecting all The rains of May The swift Mogami River.

Plunge Deep enough in order to see something that is hidden and glimmering.

From the pine tree, learn of the pine tree; And from the bamboo, of the bamboo

I felt quite at home, / As if it were mine sleeping lazily / In this house of fresh air.

Ballet in the air... Twin butterflies until, twice white They Meet, they mate

Just washed, How chill The white leeks!

Old dark sleepy pool... Quick unexpected frog Goes plop! Watersplash!

Poverty's child - he starts to grind the rice, and gazes at the moon.

Even in Kyoto/Hearing the cuckoo's cry/I long for Kyoto

In this poor body, composed of one hundred bones and nine openings, is something called spirit, a flimsy curtain swept this way and that by the slightest breeze. It is spirit, such as it is, which led me to poetry, at first little more than a pastime, then the full business of my life. There have been times when my spirit, so dejected, almost gave up the quest, other times when it was proud, triumphant. So it has been from the very start, never finding peace with itself, always doubting the worth of what it makes.

On a bare branch a crow is perched - autumn evening

Summer grasses — all that remains of great soldiers' imperial dreams.

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

Fresh spring! / The world is only Nine days old - / These fields and mountains!

Harvest moon: around the pond I wander and the night is gone.

Operating superficially, the mind is random in its activity and stale in its insights and images. However, with practice and experience the mind is freed from the skull, and the fresh and new can appear as though for the first time. It

There came a day when the clouds drifting along with the wind aroused a wanderlust in me, and I set off on a journey to roam along the seashores

the universe and its beings are a complementarity of empty infinity, intimate interrelationships, and total uniqueness of each and every being.

How much I desire! Inside my little satchel, the moon, and flowers

The moon is brighter since the barn burned.

The moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.

Not to think of yourself / as someone who did not count -- / Festival of the Souls.

When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.

Calm and serene The sound of a cicada Penetrates the rock.

What is important is to keep our mind high in the world of true understanding, and returning to the world of our daily experience to seek therein the truth of beauty. No matter what we may be doing at a given moment, we must not forget that is has a bearing upon our everlasting self which is poetry.

Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.

Along my journey / through this transitory world, / new year's housecleaning.

The old pond, ah! A frog jumps in: The water's sound.

No matter where your interest lies, you will not be able to accomplish anything unless you bring your deepest devotion to it.

Learn how to listen as things speak for themselves.

If I had the knack I'd sing like Cherry flakes falling

The basis of art is change in the universe.

The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.

Come out to view / the truth of flowers blooming / in poverty.

Come, butterfly It's late- We've miles to go together.