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Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn Books

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“A very successful method of dragon-fly-catching..is to use a captured female dragon-fly as a decoy. One end of a long thread is fastened to the insect's tail, and the other end of the thread to a flexible rod. By moving the rod in a particular way the female can be kept circling on her wings at the full length of the thread; and a male is soon attracted. As soon as he clings to the female, a slight jerk of the rod will bring both insects into the angler's hand. With a single female for lure, it is easy to capture eight or ten males in succession”

JapanMulticulturalAllusionCatchDragonflyEntomology
Book:A Japanese Miscellany: Strange Stories, Folklore Gleanings, Studies Here & There
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“A most extraordinary device for catching dragon-flies is used by the children of the province of Kii. They get a long hair, - a woman's hair, - and attach a very small pebble to each end of it, so as to form a miniature "bolas"; and this they sling high into the air. A dragon-fly pounces upon the passing object; but the moment that he seizes it, the hair twists round his body, and the weight of the pebbles brings him to the ground.”

JapanMulticulturalAllusionCatchDragonflyEntomology
Book:A Japanese Miscellany: Strange Stories, Folklore Gleanings, Studies Here & There
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“Apparently, the highest evolution will not be permitted to creatures capable of what human moral experience has in all eras condemned. Apparently, the highest possible strength is the strength of unselfishness; and power supreme never will be accorded to cruelty or to lust. There may be no gods; but the forces that shape and dissolve all forms of being would seem to be much more exacting than gods. To prove a "dramatic tendency" in the ways of the stars is not possible; but the cosmic process seems nevertheless to affirm the worth of every human system of ethics fundamentally opposed to human egoism.”

MoralityCivilizationEthicsUnselfishnessCosmic Emotion
Book:Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
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“There are two methods for the literary study of any book - the first being the study of its thought and emotion; the second only that of its workmanship. A student of literature should study some of the Bible from both points of view.”

ShouldFirstsTwoBookLiteratureViewsEmotionStudyStudentsMethodPoint Of ViewThoughts And EmotionsWorkmanship
Book:Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn
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“My friends are much more dangerous than my enemies. These latter - with infinite subtlety - spin webs to keep me out of places where I hate to go, - and tell stories of me to people whom it would be vanity and vexation to meet; - and they help me so much by their unconscious aid that I almost love them.”

PeopleHelpingStoriesWould BeHateEnemyDangerousMy FriendsI HateInfiniteAidsVanityUnconsciousHelp MeLatterSubtletyVexationAlmost Love
Book:The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn Including the Japanese Letters
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“But every great scripture, whether Hebrew, Indian, Persian, or Chinese, apart from its religious value will be found to have some rare and special beauty of its own; and in this respect the original Bible stands very high as a monument of sublime poetry and of artistic prose.”

ValuesFoundLiteratureReligiousSpecialOriginalsScriptureArtisticChineseIndianProseSublimeMonumentHebrewPersianReligious ValuesSpecial Beauty
Book:Books and Habits from the Lectures of Lafcadio Hearn
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“I may venture to say, loosely, that in Judo there is a sort of counter for every twist, wrench, pull, push or bend. Only the Judo expert does not oppose such movements at all. No, he yields to them. But he does much more than yield to them. He aids them with a wicked sleight that causes the assailant to put out his own shoulder, to fracture his own arm, or in a desparate case, even to break his own neck or back.”

MayDoeCausesBreakCasesMovementArmsAidsShouldersExpertsWickedNecksYieldVentureTwistsJudoFractureWrenches
Author:Lafcadio Hearn
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“The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice ... yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible.”

YearsArtImportantMatterWholePerfectPracticeTrainingDetailsCupsTeaServingCharmingPoliteCeremonyCups Of TeaTea Ceremony
Book:Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation
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