If life were eternal, all interest and anticipation would vanish. It is uncertainty which lends it fascination.

Are 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.

It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.

If life were eternal, all interest and anticipation would vanish. It is uncertainty which lends it fascination.

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.

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare.

Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.