When people concentrate on the idea of beauty, they are, without realizing it, confronted with the darkest thoughts that exist in this world. That, I suppose, is how human beings are made.

If we value so highly the dignity of life, how can we not also value the dignity of death No death may be called futile.

It is a rather risky matter to discuss a happiness that has no need of words.

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

For clearly it is impossible to touch eternity with one hand and life with the other.

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.

Anything can become excusable when seen from the standpoint of the result