Quotessence
Home / Books / Kokoro

Kokoro

Book by Natsume Sōseki · 23 quotes · Kokoro, Loneliness, Japan

Filter quotes by topic

AllKokoroLonelinessJapanMeijiNatsume SosekiAsian LiteratureDepressionFreedomIndividualJapaneseJapanese LiteratureModernismSelfAdmirationAgingAirAntebellumBelieveBetrayalBlood

Kokoro Quotes

“But do you imagine there’s a certain type of person in the world who conforms to the idea of a ‘bad person'? You’ll never find someone who fits that mold neatly, you know. 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. That’s why you have to be careful.”

SelfEvilIndividualFreedomEthicsJapanModernismContingencyMeijiAntebellumFin De SiecleThe Crunch
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“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. [...] 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 come 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.”

SadnessLoneliness
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“Оце ти сказав, що начеб у твоїй родині нема поганих людей, еге ж? А ти думаєш, у світі є якісь особливі люди, яких називають поганими? В світі нема такої взірцево поганої людини. Переважно всі добрі — добрі люди, принаймні просто люди. Та найстрашніше, що в годину спокуси вони раптом стають поганими. Тому не можна легковажити.”

Human
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“The memory of having sat at someone’s feet will later make you want to trample him underfoot. I’m trying to fend off your admiration for me, you see, in order to save myself from your future contempt. I prefer to put up with my present state of loneliness rather than suffer more loneliness later. We who are born into this age of freedom and independence and the self must undergo this loneliness. It’s the price we pay for these times of ours.”

SelfIndividualLonelinessEgoShadowBetrayalPsychologicalExistentialismJapanModernismDelayed GratificationMeiji
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“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.”

LonelinessAgingLife Lesson
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“As a matter of fact, country people tend to be worse than city people. You said just now that there was no one amongst your relatives that you would consider particularly bad. 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. One must always be on one's guard.”

Asian Literature
Book:Kokoro
Create image

“But once I could look back on it in a calmer frame of mind, it struck me that his motive was surely not so simple and straightforward. Had it resulted from a fatal collision between reality and ideals? Perhaps—but this was still not quite it. Eventually, I began to wonder whether it was not the same unbearable loneliness that I now felt that had brought K to his decision.”

FreedomLonelinessConflictTraditionJapanIndividualismModernityMeiji
Book:Kokoro
Create image