If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.
Yoshida Kenko... For such as truly love the world, a thousand years would fade like the dream of one night.
Yoshida KenkoEven members of the nobility, let alone persons of no consequence, would do well not to have children.
Yoshida KenkoOne should write not unskillfully in the running hand, be able to sing in a pleasing voice and keep good time to music; and, lastly, a man should not refuse a little wine when it is pressed upon him.
Yoshida KenkoAre we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration.
Yoshida Kenko