Eiji Yoshikawa > Quotes

“It is easy to crush an enemy outside oneself but impossible to defeat an enemy within.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“Fighting isn't all there is to the Art of War. The men who think that way, and are satisfied to have food to eat and a place to sleep, are mere vagabonds. A serious student is much more concerned with training his mind and disciplining his spirit than with developing martial skills.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“...you're going to find people from all over the country, everyone hungry for money and position. You won't make a name for yourself just doing what the next man does. You'll have to distinguish yourself in some way.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“I want to lead an important life. I want to do it because I was born a human being.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“The world is always full of the sound of waves. The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing, and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“Enemies were teachers in disguise.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“There's nothing more frightening than a half-baked do-gooder who knows nothing of the world but takes it upon himself to tell the world what's good for it.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“Hold on to your life and make it honest and brave.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course. Prayers cannot halt the revolving of nature. It is the same with human life. Victory and defeat are one in the vast stream of life. Victory is the beginning of defeat, and who can rest safely in victory? Impermanence is the nature of all things of this world. Even you will find your ill fortunes too will change. It is easy to understand the impatience of the old, whose days are numbered, but why should you young ones fret when the future is yours?”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“Her only weapons were her tears.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Taiko

“He saw the white paper as the great universe of nonexistence. A single stroke would give rise to existence within it. He could evoke rain or wind at will, but whatever he drew, his heart would remain in the painting forever. If his heart was tainted, the picture would be tainted; if his heart was listless, so would the picture be. If he attempted to make a show of his craftsmanship, it could not be concealed. Men’s bodies fade away, but ink lives on. The image of his heart would continue to breathe after he himself was gone.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“Think what you like. There are people who die by remaining alive and others who gain life by dying.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“The summit is believed to be the object of the climb. But its true object—the joy of living—is not in the peak itself, but in the adversities encountered on the way up. There are valleys, cliffs, streams, precipices, and slides, and as he walks these steep paths, the climber may think he cannot go any farther, or even that dying would be better than going on. But then he resumes fighting the difficulties directly in front of him, and when he is finally able to turn and look back at what he has overcome, he finds he has truly experienced the joy of living while on life's very road.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Taiko

“Keberanian sejati mengenal rasa takut
Dia tahu bagaimana takut kepada apa yang harus ditakuti
Orang-orang yang tulus menghargai hidup dengan penuh kecintaan
Mereka mendekapnya sebagai permata yang berharga
Dan mereka memilih waktu serta tempat yang tepat untuk menyerahkannya
Mati dengan penuh kemuliaan”
― Yoshikawa Eiji, Musashi: An Epic Novel of Samurai Era

“There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“It is easy to surpass a predecessor, but difficult to avoid being surpassed by a successor.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“bukan sekadar membaca, tetapi mempertemukan antara satu buku dengan yang lain, mempertemukan mereka dengan realitas lalu menemukan sintesis dan membuat tulisan kita sendiri.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“Not only must a warrior be strong with his bow, but he must have a heart full of pity for all living creatures.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“You seem to be under the misconception that if you perform one brave deed, that alone makes you a samurai. Well it doesn't! You let that one act of loyalty convince you of your righteousness. The more convinced you became, the more harm you caused yourself and everyone else.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“Musashi wondered how many people there were who on this night could say: “I was right. I did what I should have done. I have no regrets.” For him, each resounding knell evoked a tremor of remorse. He could conjure up nothing but the things he had done wrong during the last year. Nor was it only the last year—the year before, and the year before that, all the years that had gone by had brought regrets. There had not been a single year devoid of them. Indeed, there had hardly been one day.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“Manusia ingin percaya bahwa mereka hidup dan bertindak berdasarkan kemauan mereka sendiri, namun pada kenyataannya mereka hanya dipaksa oleh keadaan.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“On the eleventh day, it finally stopped raining. Musashi chafed to be out in the open, but it was another week before they were able to return to work under a bright sun. The field they had so arduously carved out of the wilderness had disappeared without a trace; in its place were rocks, and a river where none had been before. The water seemed to mock them just as the villagers had. Iori, seeing no way to reclaim their loss, looked up and said, “This place is beyond hope. Let’s look for better land somewhere else.” “No,” Musashi said firmly. “With the water drained off, this would make excellent farmland. I examined the location from every angle before I chose it.” “What if we have another heavy rain?” “We’ll fix it so the water doesn’t come this way. We’ll lay a dam from here all the way to that hill over there.” ‘That’s an awful lot of work.” “You seem to forget that this is our dōjō. I’m not giving up a foot of this land until I see barley growing on it.” Musashi carried on his stubborn struggle throughout the winter, into the second month of the new year. It took several weeks of strenuous labor to dig ditches, drain the water off, pile dirt for a dike and then cover it with heavy rocks. Three weeks later everything was again washed away. “Look,” Iori said, “we’re wasting our energy on something impossible. Is that the Way of the Sword?” The question struck close to the bone, but Musashi would not give in. Only a month passed before the next disaster, a heavy snowfall followed by a quick thaw. Iori, on his return from trips to the temple for food, inevitably wore a long face, for the people there rode him mercilessly about Musashi’s failure. And finally Musashi himself began to lose heart. For two full days and on into a third, he sat silently brooding and staring at his field. Then it dawned on him suddenly. Unconsciously, he had been trying to create a neat, square field like those common in other parts of the Kanto Plain, but this was not what the terrain called for. Here, despite the general flatness, there were slight variations in the lay of the land and the quality of the soil that argued for an irregular shape. “What a fool I’ve been,” he exclaimed aloud. “I tried to make the water flow where I thought it should and force the dirt to stay where I thought it ought to be. But it didn’t work. How could it? Water’s water, dirt’s dirt. I can’t change their nature. What I’ve got to do is learn to be a servant to the water and a protector of the land.” In his own way, he had submitted to the attitude of the peasants. On that day he became nature’s manservant. He ceased trying to impose his will on nature and let nature lead the way, while at the same time seeking out possibilities beyond the grasp of other inhabitants of the plain. The snow came again, and another thaw; the muddy water oozed slowly over the plain. But Musashi had had time to work out his new approach, and his field remained intact. “The same rules must apply to governing people,” he said to himself. In his notebook, he wrote: “Do not attempt to oppose the way of the universe. But first make sure you know the way of the universe.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“The greatest happiness of life was to stand at the difficult border between success and failure.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Taiko

“Die? Then so be it.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“The line between life and death is not thicker than an eyelid.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“Don't yield! Keep up your courage! The same sun looks down on all of us!”
― Eiji Yoshikawa

“I wouldn't call Musashi ordinary.
But he is. That's what's extraordinary about him. He's not content with relying on whatever natural gifts he may have. Knowing he's ordinary, he's always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he's had to make. Now that his year's of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody's talking about his 'god-given talent.' That's how men who don't try very hard comfort themselves.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi

“To him, any place could serve as home—more than that: wherever he happened to be was the universe.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

“It's no good to want to win still more when you have already won.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Taiko

“True courage knows fear. It knows how to fear that which should be feared. Honest people value life passionately, they hang on to it like a precious jewel. And they pick the right time and place to surrender it, to die with dignity.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era