Ihara Saikaku quotes
Ihara Saikaku was a Japanese poet and novelist, renowned for his witty and insightful portrayals of urban life in the Edo period. His works vividly depicted the lives, desires, and customs of merchants, townspeople, and courtesans. He became a central figure in the development of early modern Japanese literature. Here are 16 of his quotes:
Men take their misfortunes to heart, and keep them there. A gambler does not talk about his losses; the frequenter of brothels, who finds his favorite engaged by another, pretends to be just as well off without her; the professional street-brawler is quiet about the fights he has lost; and a merchant who speculates on goods will conceal the losses he may suffer. All act as one who steps on dog dung in the dark.
Ihara Saikaku
Heaven says nothing, and the whole earth grows rich beneath its silent rule. Men, too, are touched by heaven's virtue; yet, in their greater part, they are creatures of deceit. They are born, it seems, with an emptiness of soul, and must take their qualities wholly from things without. To be born thus empty into this modern age, this mixture of good and ill, and yet steer through life on an honest course to the splendors of success - this is a feat reserved for paragons of our kind, a task beyond the nature of the normal man.
Ihara Saikaku