Quotessence
Home / Authors / Osamu Dazai
Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleJapanese LiteratureHumansDepressionHuman BeingsWorldIfsLifeLonelinessSocietySadnessFeelsI CanKnowsLoveMenSuicideArtDeathFear

Famous Osamu Dazai Quotes

“When I pretended to be precocious, people started the rumor that I was precocious. When I acted like an idler, rumor had it I was an idler. When I pretended I couldn't write a novel, people said I couldn't write. When I acted like a liar, they called me a liar. When I acted like a rich man, they started the rumor I was rich. When I feigned indifference, they classed me as the indifferent type. But when I inadvertently groaned because I was really in pain, they started the rumor that I was faking suffering. The world is out of joint.”

PeopleMenWorldWritingSaidPainSufferingNovelRichTypeIndifferenceLiarsIndifferentJointsRumorRich ManIdlersPrecocious
Author:Osamu Dazai
Create image

“I drink out of desperation. Life is too dreary to endure. The misery, loneliness, crampedness - they're heartbreaking.[...] What feelings do you suppose a man has when he realizes that he will never know happiness or glory as long as he lives? Hard work. All that amounts to is food for the wild beasts of hunger.”

KnowsMenLongHardFeelingsLife IsRealizingLonelinessHard WorkAmountDrinkGloryMiseryEndureHungerBeastDesperationHeartbreakingDrearyWild Beasts
Book:The Setting Sun
Create image

“Mother, recently I have discovered the one way in which human beings differ completely from other animals. Man has, I know, language, knowledge, principles, and social order, but don't all the other animals have them too, granted the difference of degree? Perhaps the animals even have religions. Man boasts of being the lord of all creation, but it would seem as if essentially he does not differ in the least from other animals. But, Mother, there was one way I thought of. Perhaps you won't understand. It's a faculty absolutely unique to man - having secrets. Can you see what I mean?”

IfsKnowsMenWayHumansMeanDoeSeemsMotherOrderLanguageSocialDifferencesHuman BeingsAnimalSecretLordPrinciplesCreationDegreesUniqueGrantedOne WayFacultyBoastSocial Order
Author:Osamu Dazai
Create image

“Any man who criticizes my suicide and passes judgment on me with an expression of superiority, declaring (without offering the least help) that I should have gone on living my full complement of days, is assuredly a prodigy among men quite capable of tranquilly urging the Emperor to open a fruit shop.”

MenShouldHelpingGoneExpressionJudgmentCapableShould HaveSuicideFruitShopsCriticizeOfferingSuperiorityEmperorComplementDeclaringProdigies
Book:The Setting Sun
Create image