Oh, I feel great sorrow for you. You have contracted an unfortunate sickness. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people who get this disease live in misery for the rest of their lives…The most troubling consequence of this condition is the doubts about one’s own ‘self’ that the illness causes a being to harbor. Why do I think of me as me? Would it cause problems if I thought of someone else as me? What exactly is 'I’? …Unless you are blessed with a special opportunity, there will not be a time when your face will be free of the cloud that darkens it.
Nakajima Atsushi, “The Rebirth of Wujing” from The Moon over the Mountain and Other Stories
Happy Birthday Fukuzawa Yukichi-sensei!
To celebrate Fukuzawa Yukichi’s birthday here are his top three quotes from my blog:
Quote #3:
Men are neither devils nor serpents. They are not out to harm you. Let us receive people in a natural way, with true and open minds.
- Fukuzawa Yukichi, An Encouragement of Learning
I have been sickly ever since I was a child and have frequently been confined to bed. How often as I lay there I used to think what uninspired decorations sheets and pillow cases make. It wasn’t until I was about twenty that I realized that they actually served a practical purpose, and this revelation of human dullness stirred dark depression in me.
Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human
In killing, I use the sword I wear at my side. Am I the only one who kills people? You, you don’t use your swords. You kill people with your power, with your money. Sometimes you kill them on the pretext of working for their good. It’s true they don’t bleed. They are in the best of health, but all the same you’ve killed them. It’s hard to say who is a greater sinner, you or me. (An ironic smile.)
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, “In a Bamboo Grove”, The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories
Whoever wishes to put his knowledge to actual use must never regard any subject lightly but learn each one thoroughly. At the same time a student must never be ignorant of the world around him; even if his body is in the school, his mind must be turned to society, taking interest in everything - from the noble to vulgar, big to small, from extremely scholarly subjects to the most trivial incidents in life. One must always be aware of the ‘great school’ called society outside of the classrooms, constantly training in this great school.
Fukuzawa Yukichi, “Educational Objectives at Keio” from Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education