Kokoro Quotes

“Now, I myself am about to cut open my own heart, and drench your face with my blood. And I shall be satisfied if, when my heart stops beating, a new life lodges itself in your breast.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“We who are born into this age of freedom and independence and the self must undergo this loneliness. It is the price we pay for these times of ours.”
― Natsume Soseki

“I don't even trust myself. And not trusting myself, I can hardly trust others. There is nothing that I can do, except curse my own soul.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“But I believe that a commonplace idea stated with passionate conviction carries more living truth than some novel observation expressed with cool indifference. It is the force of blood that drives the body, after all. Words are not just vibrations in the air, they work more powerfully than that, on more powerful objects.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“I do not want your admiration now, because I do not want your insults in the future. I bear with my loneliness now, in order to avoid greater loneliness in the years ahead. You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egoistical selves.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“You are like a man in a fever. When that fever passes, your enthusiasm will turn to disgust. Your present opinion of me makes me unhappy enough. But when I think of the disillusionment that is to come, I feel even greater sorrow.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
― Psalm 90:12 New International Version (NIV)

“The best rendering of the Japanese word "Kokoro" that I have seen is Lafcadio Hearn's, which is "the hear of things."

- Edwin McClellan”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“The best rendering of the Japanese word "kokoro" that I have seen is Lafcadio Hearn's, which is: "The heart of things.”
― Edwin McClellan, Kokoro