I came as dew, I vanish as dew — all that I was, all I achieved at Naniwa, is a dream within a dream.

Wisdom that comes only after hearing others' opinions is not true wisdom.

If the cuckoo will not sing, I shall make it want to sing.

Youth on horseback has passed. The world is at peace and white hairs multiply. With what remains of life that heaven permits, how can I not enjoy it?

-- The 'One-Eyed Dragon' of northern Japan who carved

児孫のために美田を買わず。

-- The charismatic giant who led Japan's Meiji Restoration through force of personality and moral authority

Let the world say what it will about me. Only I know what I must do.

-- The visionary who brokered the alliance that overthrew Japan's feudal government and launched the country into modernity

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

-- Virginia Woolf

Within the motive for crime lies society's contradiction.

-- Seicho Matsumoto

The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.

-- Henrik Ibsen