Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Quote by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

“The people of Ike-no-o used to say that Zenchi Naigu was lucky to be a priest: no woman would ever want to marry a man with a nose like that. Some even claimed it was because of his nose that he had entered the priesthood to begin with. The Naigu himself, however, never felt that he suffered any less over his nose for being a priest. Indeed, his self-esteem was already far too fragile to be affected by such a secondary fact as whether or not he had a wife.”

Quote by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Book:Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
Create image

Work

Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (March 1, 1892 – July 24, 1927) was a renowned Japanese writer of the Taishō period, often hailed as the 'god of the short story.' Born in Tokyo, he was adopted by his uncle and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a degree in English literature. Akutagawa is best known for his masterful short stories such as 'Rashōmon,' 'In a Grove,' and 'Kappa,' which explore the dark side of human nature with sharp psychological insight and innovative narrative techniques. His works blend classical Japanese themes with modernist sensibilities, leaving a lasting impact on world literature. Struggling with mental and physical health issues, he died by suicide at age 35. The Akutagawa Prize, established in his honor, remains one of Japan's most prestigious literary awards. more

You May Also Like

“Jak wygląda świat, kiedy życie staje się tęsknotą? Wygląda papierowo, kruszy się w palcach, rozpada. Każdy ruch przygląda się sobie, każda myśl przygląda się sobie, każde uczucie zaczyna się i nie kończy, i w końcu sam przedmiot tęsknoty staje się papierowy i nierzeczywisty. Tylko tęsknienie jest prawdziwe, uzależnia. Być tam, gdzie się nie jest, mieć to, czego się nie posiada, dotykać kogoś, kto nie istnieje. Ten stan ma naturę falującą i sprzeczną w sobie. jest kwintesencją życia i jest przeciwko życiu. Przenika skórę do mięśni i kości, które zaczynają odtąd istnieć boleśnie. Nie boleć. Istnieć boleśnie – to znaczy, że podstawą ich istnienia był ból. Toteż nie ma od takiej tęsknoty ucieczki. Trzeba by uciec poza własne ciało, a nawet poza siebie. Upijać się? Spać całe tygodnie? Zapamiętywać się w aktywności aż do amoku? Modlić się nieustannie?”

SufferingLongingEscape Oneself
Book:House of Day, House of Night
Create image

“We are to be agents of His great upside down Kindgom, where the outcasts are listened to, the broken are given dignity, and those suffering under the weight of sexual exploitation are rescued and healed.”

SufferingHealingBrokenDignityRescueSexual AbuseKingdom Of GodSurvivorsOutcastsWhat Would Jesus Do
Book:We Too: How the Church Can Respond Redemptively to the Sexual Abuse Crisis
Create image

“When once we have discovered how pain and suffering diminish the personality and how joy alone increases it, then the morbid attraction which is felt for evil, pain and abnormality will have lost its power. Why do we reward our men of genius, our suicides, our madmen and the generally maladjusted with the melancholy honours of a posthumous curiosity? Because we know that it is our society which has condemned these men to death and which is guilty because, out of its own ignorance and malformation, it has persecuted those who were potential saviours; smiters of the rock who might have touched the spring of healing and brought us back into harmony with ourselves. Somehow, then, and without going mad, we must learn from these madmen to reconcile fanaticism with serenity. Either one, taken alone, is disastrous, yet except through the integration of these two opposites there can be no great art and no profound happiness--and what else is worth having? For nothing can be accomplished without fanaticism and without serenity nothing can be enjoyed.”

SufferingSuicideLegacy
Book:The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus
Create image

“Hva ville det egentlig si å være sinnssyk? Man kunne jo glatt vekk kalle hinannens særegenheter og mer eller mindre brysomme eiendommeligheter for sinnssykdom. Hvem kun hindre det? Én hadde aversjon for katter, en annen var ikke til å bevege til å foreta seg noe på en mandag, en tredje gikk ikke i seng uten først å sette skoene baklengs foran sovekammerdøren, en fjerde trodde på drømmer og lot seg påvirke av dem, en femte hadde talt med hedenfarne ånder og visste at han efter døden skulle komme i den niende himmel, en sjette hadde hatt en åpenbaring av apostelen Petrus, og av ham fått malt til å helbrede sykdommer ved håndspåleggelse, en syvende ble søvnløs av gremmelse over ikke å kunne få sitt arbeide til, en åttende følte seg så uskikket for jordelivet at han foretrakk godvillig å absentere seg, en niende hadde dårlig mave, og var som følge av det umulig å omgåes, en tiende drakk og foretok seg i fullskap de merkeligste og avskyeligste ting, en ellevte hadde motbydelighet for det annet kjønn, en tolvte kunne ikke tåle synet av barn, en trettende fikk stivkrampe når han kom i nærheten av rotter og mus, en fjortende var stormannsgal og bilte seg inn at han visste til punkt og prikke hva som skulle kalles sinnssykdom og hva ikke, og så fremdeles i det uendelige.”

SufferingHumanityPsychologyMedicineInsanityPsychiatryPsychiatristDoctorNormalitySinnssyk
Book:På St. Jørgen
Create image

“God has arranged all of the preceding centuries, all of the intervolutions of time, all of the events from Genesis 1:1 up to this moment - has arranged and moulded them, has had them converge in such a way that there would be a place for this hour, the hour in which His Son will be bound... He allowed neither the forces above nor the forces below to tamper with the clock of history. He directed the battles of Caesars, the conflicts of kings, the migration of peoples, the world wars, the course of stars and sun and moon, the change of epochs, and the complex movement of all things in the world in such a way that this hour would come and had to come.”

TimeSufferingJesusCrucifixionPredestinationForeordination
Book:Christ In His Suffering
Create image

“In Caiaphas' court-room the Prisoner was now the object of scorn and contempt, 'a worm and no man', a blot on the very name and honour of Israel, a Philistine of the Philistines, worthy only of death. Here we touch another nerve of Christ's sufferings, his rejection by his own people. 'He came to his own home, and his own people received him not' (John 1:11). He was officially disowned as a child of Abraham, he who had wept over impenitent Jerusalem. In this rejection God was rending the Saviour's heart. To be thus spurned by his own people and treated as a reprobate, was a bitter grief to bear. To be delivered to the pagans for further trial and then death added to the pain that wrenched at his heart. But the One who had come to save the world must suffer at the hands of the world.”

DeathSufferingChristSalvationRejectionTrialSentence
Book:The Cross He Bore: Meditations on the Sufferings of the Redeemer
Create image