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Yukio Mishima

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Famous Yukio Mishima Quotes

“I had long since insisted upon interpreting the things that Fate forced me to do as victories of my own will and intelligence, and now this bad habit had grown into a sort of frenzied arrogance. In the nature of what I was calling my intelligence there was a touch of something illegitimate, a touch of the sham pretender who has been placed on the throne by some freak chance. This dolt of a usurper could not foresee the revenge that would inevitably be wreaked upon his stupid despotism.”

LongHas BeensChanceMy OwnFateStupidHabitVictoryCallingRevengeArroganceFreakThronesDespotismBad HabitsInterpretingPretenderUsurpers
Author:Yukio Mishima
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“Suddenly the full long wail of a ship's horn surged through the open window and flooded the dim room—a cry of boundless, dark, demanding grief; pitch-black and glabrous as a whale's back and burdened with all the passions of the tides, the memory of voyages beyond counting, the joys, the humiliations: the sea was screaming.”

LittlesLongJoyNightPassionBlackMemoriesDarkRoomsGriefSeaCryWindowShipsTidesThirstHumiliationHornsCountingVoyagesBoundlessWhalesGlitterFrenzyNectarConveyingPitch Black
Author:Yukio Mishima
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“Just let matters slide. How much better to accept each sweet drop of the honey that was Time, than to stoop to the vulgarity latent in every decision. However grave the matter at hand might be, if one neglected it for long enough, the act of neglect itself would begin to affect the situation, and someone else would emerge as an ally. Such was Count Ayakura's version of political theory.”

IfsLongMatterEnoughHandsMightPoliticalDecisionSituationAcceptingSweetTheoryGravesVersionsNeglectAlliesHoneySlidesNeglectedVulgarityLatentStoopsPolitical Theory
Book:Spring Snow
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“In the pale light of daybreak the gravestones looked like so many white sails of boats anchored in a busy harbor. They were sails that would never again be filled with wind, sails that, too long unused and heavily drooping, had been turned into stone just as they were. The boats' anchors had been thrust so deeply into the dark earth that they could never again be raised.”

LongLightEarthDarkWhiteWindStonesFilledRaisedBusyBoatPaleSailHarborsThrustAnchorsGravestoneDaybreak
Author:Yukio Mishima
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