Life's most precious gift is uncertainty.

The day is ending, the way is long; my life already begins to stumble on its journey. I shall not keep promises, nor consider decorum. Let anyone who cannot understand my feelings feel free to call me mad… Abuse will not bother me; I shall not listen if praised.

Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, the moon only when it is cloudless? To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring - these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with flowers are worthier of our admiration.

Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth.

If you imagine that once you have accomplished your ambitions you will have time to turn to the Way, you will discover that your ambitions never come to an end.

If man were never to fade away ... but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us. The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.

The true criminal must be defined as a man who commits a crime though he is as decently fed and clothed as others.

Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration. In all things, it is the beginnings and ends that are interesting.

I am happiest when I have nothing to distract me and I am completely alone.

Truly, the beauty of life is its uncertainty.

Verily, the roots of passion are deep, and remote its sources. It can hardly be uprooted, and young and old, wise and foolish are alike its slaves.

Even the moonshine seems to gain in friendly brilliance, striking into the house where a good man lives in peaceful ease.

So long as people, being ill-governed, suffer from hunger, criminals will never disappear. It is extremely unkind to punish those who, being sufferers from hunger, are compelled to violate laws.

Ambition never comes to an end.

There is nothing better than to refrain from contention; to yield oneself, to put oneself last and others first.

A wife is something a man should not have... It is by keeping apart, and going to stay with her only from time to time that an intimacy is reached that even the passing of months and years will not destroy.

We should put our trust in nothing at all. It is because foolish people are deeply trustful that they know hatred and anger... If you put trust in neither yourself or others, you will rejoice when good comes, and when evil comes you will not grieve.

Though you have talent, do not trust in it. Confucius himself was unsuited to his times... Do not trust in promises. Truth is rare.

The autumn moon is of loveliness without end. Nobody is more pitiable than a man who cannot see the difference and thinks the moon is the same at all times.