Writing is the work above all other work.

If I refuse to be defeated by hardship, if only I stand firm, the world holds no terror for me.

A human life of fifty years, compared to the span beneath heaven, is nothing but a dream, an illusion.

-- The revolutionary warlord who dismantled feudal Japan's medieval order and launched the country toward unification

In this uncertain world, we cannot know what tomorrow brings.

-- Called 'the greatest warrior in Japan' by his enem

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

-- The peasant who became ruler of all Japan

I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me.

-- The dominant warlord of China's Three Kingdoms era

Ungrateful fatherland, you shall not even have my bones.

-- The Roman general who defeated Hannibal at Zama

閑山島月明夜上戍楼、撫大刀深愁時

-- The Korean naval commander who defeated the Japanese navy in every engagement during the Imjin War