Lafcadio Hearn quotes

Lafcadio Hearn was a writer and journalist of Greek-Irish descent, best known for his books about Japanese culture and folklore. His work introduced the customs, legends, and spirit of Japan to Western audiences. He became a Japanese citizen and is remembered as a bridge between East and West. Here are 49 of his quotes:

The time of illusion, then, is the beautiful moment of passion; it represents the artistic zone in which the poet or romance writer ought to be free to do the very best that he can. (Lafcadio Hearn)
Any idealism is a proper subject for art. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
But what is after all the happiness of mere power? There is a greater happiness possible than to be lord of heaven and earth; that is the happiness of being truly loved. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
Japanese affection is not uttered in words; it scarcely appears even in the tone of voice; it is chiefly shown in acts of exquisite courtesy and kindness. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
Whatever doubts or vexations one has in Japan, it is only necessary to ask one's self: "Well, who are the best people to live with?" View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
My friends are much more dangerous than my enemies. These latter - with infinite subtlety - spin webs to keep me out of places where I hate to go, - and tell stories of me to people whom it would be vanity and vexation to meet; - and they help me so much by their unconscious aid that I almost love them. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
How sweet Japanese woman is! All the possibilities of the race for goodness seem to be concentrated in her. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
In order to comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to understand - or at least to learn to understand - the beauty of stone. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
The Shadow-maker shapes forever. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
Broad tolerance in the matter of beliefs is necessarily a part of the new ethics. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
But every great scripture, whether Hebrew, Indian, Persian, or Chinese, apart from its religious value will be found to have some rare and special beauty of its own; and in this respect the original Bible stands very high as a monument of sublime poetry and of artistic prose. (Lafcadio Hearn)
The highest duty of the man is not to his father, but to his wife; and for the sake of that woman he abandons all other earthly ties, should any of these happen to interfere with that relation. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
Contemporary literature in the West has shown some signs of ethical change. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
There are two methods for the literary study of any book - the first being the study of its thought and emotion; the second only that of its workmanship. A student of literature should study some of the Bible from both points of view. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
To ancient Chinese fancy, the Milky Way was a luminous river, - the River of Heaven, - the Silver Stream. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
For this reason, to study English literature without some general knowledge of the relation of the Bible to that literature would be to leave one's literary education very incomplete. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
The subject of Finnish poetry ought to have a special interest for the Japanese student, if only for the reason that Finnish poetry comes more closely in many respects to Japanese poetry than any other form of Western poetry. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
The Western poet and writer of romance has exactly the same kind of difficulty in comprehending Eastern subjects as you have in comprehending Western subjects. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
The proverbial philosophy of a people helps us to understand more about them than any other kind of literature. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
It has been wisely observed by the greatest of modern thinkers that mankind has progressed more rapidly in every other respect than in morality. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
As a result, the highly civilized man can endure incomparably more than the savage, whether of moral or physical strain. Being better able to control himself under all circumstances, he has a great advantage over the savage. (Lafcadio Hearn)
A great many things which in times of lesser knowledge we imagined to be superstitious or useless, prove today on examination to have been of immense value to mankind. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
Is woman a religion? Well, perhaps you will have the chance of judging for yourselves if you go to America. There you will find men treating women with just the same respect formerly accorded only to religious dignitaries or to great nobles. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
In the world of reality the more beautiful a work of art, the longer, we may be sure, was the time required to make it, and the greater the number of different minds which assisted in its development. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn
It may remain for us to learn ... that our task is only beginning; and that there will never be given to us even the ghost of any help, save the help of unutterable unthinkable Time. We may have to learn that the infinite whirl of death and birth, out of which we cannot escape, is of our own creation, of our own seeking;-that the forces integrating worlds are the errors of the Past;-that the eternal sorrow is but the eternal hunger of insatiable desire;-and that the burnt-out suns are rekindled only by the inextinguishable passions of vanished lives. View quote
Lafcadio Hearn