Isa

“Might it have been nothing but life itself? Life; this limitless complex sea, filled with assorted flotsam, brimming with capricious, violent, and yet eternally transparent blues and greens.”
― Yukio Mishima, Thirst for Love

“Why can’t people get along without criticizing one another?” Urashima shakes
his head as he ponders this rudimentary question. “Never have the bush clover
blooming on the beach, nor the little crabs who skitter o’er the sand, nor the wild
geese resting their wings in yonder cove found fault with me. Would that human
beings too were thus! Each individual has his own way of living. Can we not learn
to respect one another’s chosen way? One makes every effort to live in a dignified
and proper manner, without harming anyone else, yet people will carp and cavil
and try to tear one down. It’s most vexing.”
― Osamu Dazai, Otogizōshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu

“To fall for," "to be fallen for"--I feel in these words something unspeakably vulgar, farcical, and at the same time extraordinarily complacent. Once these expressions put in an appearance, no matter how solemn the place, the silent cathedrals of melancholy crumble, leaving nothing but an impression of fatuousness. It is curious, but the cathedrals of melancholy are not necessarily demolished if one can replace the vulgar "What a messy business it is to be fallen for" by the more literary "What uneasiness lies in being loved.”
― Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human

“But surely the will to create was a form of the will to live...?”
― Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Akutagawa Ryunosuke Short Story Selection vol.1 [mikan +1]