Kokoro Quotes

“I believe that words uttered in passion contain a greater living truth than do those words which express thoughts rationally conceived. It is blood that moves the body. Words are not meant to stir the air only: they are capable of moving greater things.”
― Natsume Soseki, 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 egotistical selves.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“You seem to be under the impression that there is a special breed of bad humans. There is no such thing as a stereotype bad man in this world. Under normal conditions, everybody is more or less good, or, at least, ordinary. But tempt them, and they may suddenly change. That is what is so frightening about men.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“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 Soseki, Kokoro

“...you don't really become a finer person just by reading lots of books.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“It is not you in particular that I distrust, but the whole of humanity.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“I often laughed, and you often gave me a dissatisfied look, till you pressed me to unfold my past before you as if it were a roll of pictures. It was then I felt respect for you. Because you unreservedly showed me your resolution to catch something alive in my being, and to sip the warm blood running in my body, by cutting my heart. At that time, I was still living, and did not want to die. So I rejected your request, promising to satisfy you some day. Now I am going to destroy my heart myself, and pour my blood into your veins. I shall be happy if a new life can enter into your bosom, when my heart has stopped beating.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“Like the first whiff of burning incense, or like the taste of one's first cup of saké, there is in love that moment when all its power is felt.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“I am a lonely man," he said again that evening. "And is it not possible that you are also a lonely person? But I am an older man, and I can live with my loneliness, quietly. You are young, and it must be difficult to accept your loneliness. You must sometimes want to fight it."
"But I am not at all lonely."
"Youth is the loneliest time of all. Otherwise, why should you come so often to my house?"
Sensei continued: "But surely, when you are with me, you cannot rid yourself of your loneliness. I have not it in me to help you forget it. You will have to look elsewhere for the consolation you seek. And soon, you will find that you no longer want to visit me."
As he said this, Sensei smiled sadly.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“To tell you the truth, I used to consider it a disgrace to be found ignorant by other people. But now, I find that I am not ashamed of knowing less than others, and I'm less inclined to force myself to read books. In short, I have grown old and decrepit.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“I am an inconsistent creature. Perhaps it is the pressure of my past, and not my own perverse mind, that has made me into this contradictory being. I am all too well aware of this fault in myself. You must forgive me.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“On the whole, all people are good, or at least they're normal. The frightening thing is that they can suddenly turn bad when it comes to the crunch.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“The memory of having sat at someone's feet will later make you want to trample him underfoot.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“I felt for her a love that was close to pious faith. You may find it odd that I use a specifically religious word to describe my feelings for a young woman, but real love, I firmly believe, is not so different from the religious impulse. Whenever I saw her face, I felt that I myself had become beautiful.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“I am a lonely man,' Sensei said. 'And so I am glad that you come to see me. But I am also a melancholy man, and so I asked you why you should wish to visit me so often.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“Sometimes when I can no longer endure the strain, I beg him to tell me what is wrong with me and help me to correct it. Then he always says that I have nothing to correct, assuring me that it is he who is at fault. And I become sadder and sadder until I weep with the desire to know my fault.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“You have a fine scholar's way with words, I must say. You're good at empty reasoning.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“No matter how fierce was the passion that gripped him, the fact is he was paralyzed, transfixed by the contemplation of his own past. Only something so momentous as to drive from his consciousness all thoughts of before and after could have propelled him forward. And with his eyes fixed on the past, he had no choice but to continue along its trajectory.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“From then on, my thesis hung over me like a curse, and with bloodshot eyes, I worked like a madman.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“What would you do," I said, "if I pushed you into the sea?" K did not move. Without looking back, he said: "That would be pleasant. Please do.”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“But to my questions he gave replies so vague that one could not tell whether they came from the mountains or the sea.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“Anyone without spiritual aspirations is a fool”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“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

“I believe that words uttered in passion contain a greater living truth than those words which express thoughts rationally conceived”
― Natsume Soseki, Kokoro

“I will not hesitate to cast upon you the shadow thrown by the darkness of human life. But do not be afraid. Gaze steadfastly into this darkness, and find there the things that will be of use to you.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“No matter how full one's head might be with the image of greatness, one was useless, I found out, unless one was a worthy man first.”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“- I don't even trust myself. It's because I can't trust myself that I can't trust others. I can only curse myself for it.

= Once you start thinking that way, then surely no one's entirely reliable.

- It's not thinking that's led me here. It's doing, I once did something that shocked me, then terrified me”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro

“Did you not come to me because you felt there was something lacking?'
'Yes. But my going to you was not the same thing as wanting to fall in love.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“Just as you can only really smell incense in the first moments after it is lit, or taste wine in that instant of the first sip, the impulse of love springs from a single, perilous moment in time, I feel.”
― Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro

“But sick or well, humans are fragile creatures, you know. There's no anticipating how or when they might die, or for what reason”
― Sōseki Natsume, Kokoro