• Tsurezuregusa by Yoshida Kenkō

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• "What a weakly thing is this heart of ours."
• "So everything is grief until at length the green leaves come."
• "There is no such quiet bliss as to wander in secluded spots where grass is green and water is clear."
• "Truly the beauty of life is its uncertainty. Of all living things, none lives so long as man. Consider how the ephemera awaits the fall of evening, and the summer cicada knows neither spring nor autumn. Even a year of life lived peacefully seems long and happy beyond compare; but for such as never weary of this world and are loth to die, a thousand years would pass away like the dream of a single night."
• "A certain recluse, I know not who, once said that no bonds attached him to this life, and the only thing he would regret to leave behind was the sky. Truly one feels this to be so."
• "Such virtue was there in his great faith."
• "What do people mean when they complain of solitude? It is a good thing to be alone and undisturbed."
• "The moon waxes and then wanes. When the prime is reached then comes decline. In all things, when there is no room for advance decay is at hand."
• "The night falls, the way is long, and our life already tottering. It is time to cast loose all our ties. We must not keep faith. We must not consider ceremony. People who are not of this mind may call us mad, but there is no truth in them. They may think us heartless, but we are not troubled that they revile us, nor will we listen to their praise."
• "Are we only to look at flowers in full bloom, at the moon when clear? Nay, to look out on the rain and long for the moon, to draw the blinds and not know the passing of the spring - these arouse even deeper feelings. There is much to be seen in young boughs about to flower, in gardens strewn with withered blossom. -- Men are wont to regret that the moon has waned or that the blossoms have fallen, and this must be so -- In all things, it is the beginning and the end that are interesting. -- To feel sorrow at an unaccomplished meeting, to grieve over empty vows, to spend the long night sleepless and alone, to yearn for distant skies, in a neglected home to think fondly of the past - this is what love is. Rather than see the moon shining over a thousand leagues, it sinks deeper into the heart to watch it when at last it appears towards the dawn. It never moves one so much as when seen, pale green over the tops of the cedars on distant hills, in gaps between the trees, or behind the clustering clouds after showers of rain. When it shines bright on the leaves of oak and evergreen, and they look wet, the sight sinks deep into one's being --"
• "If one's own heart is not at fault, it matters not what others see and hear."