Quotessence
Home / Authors / Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima

Yukio Mishima Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllYukio MishimaJapanese LiteratureMenWorldIfsExistenceHumansPeopleArtBeautyConfessioni Di Una MascheraDesireLoveHandsLongMishimaPhilosophySpiritThis WorldWay

Famous Yukio Mishima Quotes

“The purest evil that human efforts could attain, in other words, was probably achieved by those men who made their wills the same and who made their eyes see the world in the same way, men who went against the pattern of life's diversity, men whose spirits shattered the natural wall of the individual body, making nothing of this barrier, set up to guard against mutual corrosion, men whose spirit accomplished what flesh could never accomplish.”

MenWorldWayHumansMadeBodyEyeSpiritEvilIndividualNaturalEffortWallDiversityPatternsAccomplishFleshAccomplishedBarriersMutualShattered
Author:Yukio Mishima
Create image

“What transforms this world is - knowledge. Do you see what I mean? Nothing else can change anything in this world. Knowledge alone is capable of transforming the world, while at the same time leaving it exactly as it is. When you look at the world with knowledge, you realize that things are unchangeable and at the same time are constantly being transformed.”

WorldLooksMeanRealizingThis WorldCapableLeavingTransformedTransformingUnchangeableTransforming The World
Author:Yukio Mishima
Create image

“When a captive lion steps out of his cage, he comes into a wider world than the lion who has known only the wilds. While he was in captivity, there were only two worlds for him - the world of the cage, and the world outside the cage. Now he is free. He roars. He attacks people. He eats them. Yet he is not satisfied, for there is no third world that is neither the world of the cage nor the world outside the cage.”

PeopleWorldTwoKnownStepsThirdsSatisfiedLionsCagesThird WorldCaptivesCaptivityTwo Worlds
Author:Yukio Mishima
Create image

“To see human beings in agony, to see them covered in blood and to hear their death groans, makes people humble. It makes their spirits delicate, bright, peaceful. It's never at such times that we become cruel or bloodthirsty. No, it's on a beautiful spring afternoon like this that people suddenly become cruel. It's at a moment like this, don't you think, while one's vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn? Every possible nightmare in the world, every possible nightmare in history, has come into being like this.”

PeopleThinkingWorldHumansWellsMomentsBeautifulSpiritHuman BeingsSunTreeBloodSpringHumblePeacefulNightmareCoveredAfternoonDelicateAgonyLawns
Book:The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Create image