“I believe The Art of War shows quite clearly how to take the initiative and combat the enemy—any enemy… Sun Tzu’s truths can equally show the way to victory in all kinds of ordinary business conflicts, boardroom battles, and in the day to day fight for survival we all endure—even in the battle of the sexes! It has been a constant companion to me… I would make it obligatory study… I believe, very much, that Sun Tzu’s knowledge is vital to our survival.”

from The Art of War, 1983

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“Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature”

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“Patience means holding back your inclination to the seven emotions: hate, adoration, joy, anxiety, anger, grief, fear. If you don't give way to the seven, you're patient, then you'll soon understand all manner of things and be in harmony with Eternity.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Isn’t it only through laughter that we become one with the gods and thus can endure life and can overcome all the horror and waste and suffering here on earth? …Isn’t it only through laughter we can stay human?”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life.”

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“‘What can I do to help thee?’ he asked. ‘Believe there is a tomorrow.’”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“time has no single measure, time can be like frost or lightning or a tear or siege or storm or sunset, or even like a rock.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Isn't man but a blossom taken by wind, and only the mountains and the sea and the stars… everlasting?”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable — all at the same time?”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Wars are fought by teenagers, you realize that. They really ought to be fought by the politicians and old people who start these wars.”

from Radio interview, 1986

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“Like dew I was born
Like dew I vanish
..and all that I have ever done
Is but a dream
Within a dream”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Sometimes it's wiser to give a quarry extra line -- that's how to catch a fish, neh?”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Only merchants have money to waste, and what are they but parasites who create nothing, grow nothing, make nothing but feed off another's labor?”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Know that Good and Evil are irrelevant, I and Thou irrelevant, Inside and Outside irrelevant as are Life and Death… Thou art thyself the Tao. Be thou, now, a rock against which the waves of life rush in vain.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that need discipline –training… So train your mind”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“I'll thank you to remember that not so many years ago men were burned at the stake just for saying the earth went round the sun!”

from Tai-pan, 1966

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“Man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.”

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“A man’s fate is a man’s fate and life is but an illusion.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“Remember, in tranquillity, that the Absolute, the Tao, is within thee, that no priest or cult or dogma or book or saying or teaching or teacher stands between Thou and It.”

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“In war and in peace, a good enemy can be more valuable than a good ally.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“If you want peace you must learn to drink cha from an empty cup.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“If you smile when you lose, then you win in life.”

from Tai-pan, 1966

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“Remember forever that the pen’s a long arm from the grave.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“The point is we both know life and understand death—and both believe treatment in hell and everywhere else depends on money.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“The law may upset reason but reason may never upset the law, or our whole society will shred like an old tatami.”

from Shōgun, 1975

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“remember that not so many years ago men were burned at the stake just for saying the earth went round the sun!”

from Tai-Pan, 1966

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“guard yourself and your conscience — no one else will — and know that a bad decision at the right time can destroy you far more surely than any bullet!”

from King Rat

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