Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.

You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.

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

People are the castle, people are the walls, people are the moat. Compassion makes allies; cruelty makes enemies.

-- The 'Tiger of Kai' who transformed his landlocked mountain domain into one of Sengoku Japan's most formidable military powers

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

-- The peasant who became ruler of all Japan

Revere Heaven, Love People.

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

A man who wants neither life, nor fame, nor rank, nor money — such a man is the hardest to deal with.

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

I shall give Japan a good laundering.

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