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“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

“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

“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

“Whether people were great or not, there was not much variety in their inner life experience. Any difference lay merely in how they dealt with common human weaknesses.”
― Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era