The heart of mine is only one, it cannot be known by anybody but myself.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
There are those who hold that to quibble over matters of taste in the basic necessities of life is an extravagance.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
We can’t make a decision between being sad for a little while and being wretched for the rest of our lives. Or rather we’ve made the decision and have trouble finding the courage to carry it through.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
If light is scarce then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
There are those who say that when civilization progresses a bit further transportation facilities will move into the skies and under the ground, and that our streets will again be quiet, but I know perfectly well that when that day comes some new device for torturing the old will be invented.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
The older we get the more we seem to think that everything was better in the past.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
But when Kaname asked: “Would you like to separate, then?” Misako answered: “Would you?” They knew that divorce was the solution, and yet neither had the courage to propose it, each was left face to face with his own weakness.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
Once you start doubting, it’s hard to know what to believe.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
The quality that we call beauty … must always grow from the realities of life.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
Often a hungry person will wolf down unpalatable food; but as his stomach swells, he’ll suddenly notice how bad the food is and fell nauseated.
—Tanizaki Jun’ichiro
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Haruki Murakami Japanese Novelist
- Murasaki Shikibu Japanese Diarist, Novelist
- Yasunari Kawabata Japanese Novelist, Short Story Writer
- Dorothea Lange American Photographer
- Ralph C. Smedley Founder of Toastmasters
- Charles H. Revson American Businessman
- Edgard Varese French-American Composer
- Edward Victor Appleton English Physicist
- Martin Buber Austrian Jewish Philosopher
- William Benjamin Carpenter English Biologist
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