If God does not exist, everything is permitted.

Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness.

Beauty will save the world.

If the cuckoo will not sing, kill it.

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

If you do not know you may fall halfway through your work, you will not fall halfway through.

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

War is merely the continuation of politics by other means.

-- The Prussian military theorist whose 'On War' became the most influential work of strategic theory in Western history

Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

-- The American general who commanded in the Pacific War and oversaw Japan's postwar occupation

The purpose of maintaining military forces for a hundred years is solely to preserve peace.

-- The Japanese admiral who planned the Pearl Harbor attack and commanded the Combined Fleet during the Pacific War's decisive early phase

One need not be afraid of anyone. If one fears someone, it is because one has given that person power over oneself.

-- Hermann Hesse