Beauty is something that burns the hand when you touch it.

It is a common failing of childhood to think that if one makes a hero out of a demon the demon will be satisfied.

His emotion evident in the glitter of his eyes.

a samurai is a total human being, whereas a man who is completely absorbed in his technical skill has degenerated into a ‘function’, one cog in a machine.

At no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny, as when we are busy with preparations for it. After that, there remains only the journey itself, which is nothing but the process through which we lose our ownership of it.

I had no taste for defeat - much less victory - without a fight.

...of all the kinds of decay in this world, decadent purity is the most malignant.