chroniko

“The day after he married her, he delivered a scolding to his wife: ‘No sooner do you arrive here than you start wasting our money.’ But the scolding was less from him than from his aunt, who had ordered him to deliver it. His wife apologized to him, of course, and to the aunt as well – with the potted jonquils she had bought for him in the room.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, The Life of a Stupid Man

“I did pray. I kept on Praying. But prayer did nothing to alleviate their suffering.”
― Shūsaku Endō, Silence

“が、尾生の魂は、寂しい天心の月の光に、思い憧れたせいかも知れない。ひそかに死骸を抜け出すと、ほのかに明るんだ空の向うへ、まるで水の匀や藻の匀が音もなく川から立ち昇るように、うらうらと高く昇ってしまった。。。
それから幾千年かを隔てた後、この魂は無数の流転を閲して、また生を人間に託さなければならなくなった。それがこう云う私に宿っている魂なのである。だから私は現代に生れはしたが、何一つ意味のある仕事が出来ない。昼も夜も漫然と夢みがちな生活を送りながら、ただ、何か来るべき不可思議なものばかりを待っている。ちょうどあの尾生が薄暮の橋の下で、永久に来ない恋人をいつまでも待ち暮したように。”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, 尾生の信 [Bisei no shin]

“True, the Van Gogh was just a book of reproductions, but even in the photographs of those paintings, he sensed the vivid presence of nature.”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, The Life of a Stupid Man