Quotessence
Home / Authors / James Clavell
James Clavell

James Clavell Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenShogunsIfsJoyGivingImportantKarmaKnowsWorldAlive

Famous James Clavell Quotes

“How baffling it was that even the most cunning and clever people would frequently see only what they wanted to see, and would rarely look beyond the thinnest of facades. Or they would ignore reality, dismissing it as the facade. And then, when their whole world fell to pieces...they would tear their topknots or rend their clothes and bewail their karma, blaming gods or kami or luck or their lords or husbands or vassals-anything or anyone-but never themselves.”

PeopleWorldLooksWholeRealityWantedLordPiecesTearsHusbandClothesBlameLuckKarmaCleverWhole WorldCunningFacade
Book:SHOGUN
Create image

“Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you're here and nothing you do will change that. Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune. Look at this suset, it's beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.”

LooksDoeProblemHappensTodayBeautifulLosesWorryAliveMinesTomorrowPleaseBlessedFortuneKarmaSunsetVillageInfinityLive In The MomentHonoredCarpe DiemGood FortuneLosing YourselfCarpeOne With Nature
Author:James Clavell
Create image

“Karma is the beginning of knowledge. Next is patience. Patience is very important. The strong are the patient ones, Anjin-san. patience means holding back your inclination to the seven emotions: hate, adoration, joy, anxiety, anger, grief, fear. If you don't give way to the seven, you're patient, then you'll soon understand all manner of things and be in harmony with Eternity.”

IfsWayGivingMeanImportantJoyHateNextStrongGriefEmotionAnxietyEternityHarmonySevenPatientKarmaInclinationAdorationHolding BackShoguns
Book:SHOGUN
Create image

“It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.”

KnowsMenWorldHeartRealShowsSecretKnownSpecialMouthsBreastsGod KnowsReal OnesTrue OnesOnly God KnowsSpecial FriendShoguns
Book:Shogun: The First Novel of the Asian saga
Create image

“Blackthorne, beside the gates, was still turmoiled by his boundless joy at her reprieve and he remembered how his own will had been stretched that night of his near-seppuku, when he had had to get up as a man and walk home as a man unsupported, and became samurai. And he watched her, despising the need for this courage, yet understanding it, even honoring it.”

MenNeedsStillsHomeJoyNightUnderstandingWalksGet UpRememberedGatesBoundlessSamuraiReprieve
Author:James Clavell
Create image