Quotes from Yukio Mishima

and certain that life consisted of a few simple signals and decisions; that death took root at the moment of birth and man's only recourse thereafter was to water and tend it

If the concept of the hero is a physical one, then, just as Alexander the Great acquired heroic stature by modeling himself on Achilles, the conditions necessary for becoming a hero must be both a ban on originality and a true faithfulness to a classical model; unlike the words of a genius, the words of a hero must be selected as the most impressive and noble from among ready-made concepts.

Why is our era one of decadence? Why does the world despise vigor and youth and worthy ambitions and single-mindedness?…How long must this age of effete and the contemptible endure? Or is the worst still to come? Men think only of money and women. Men have forgotten everything that should be becoming to a man. that great shining age of gods and heroes passed away with the Meiji Emperor. Will we ever see its like again?

What I learned from this amazing process was that so far as feelings were concerned, there was no discrepancy between the very finest feeling in the world and the very worst; that their effect was the same; that no visible difference existed between murderous intent and feelings of deep compassion.

El sueño de alcanzar lo absoluto. Soñar, soñar, pero como este sueño es romántico, no se puede cumplir jamás. La imposibilidad de tal cumplimiento la representa el arte, mientras que su posibilidad la representa la acción. Exactamente esto es el camino conjunto de la pluma y de la espada.

For Ryuji the kiss was death, the very death in love he always dreamed of.

They were simply looking at the sky. In their eyes there was no vision: only the reflection of the blue and the absolute skies of early autumn. Those blue skies though, were unusual skies that I might never see again in my life.

In the loneliness of ????, one thinks longingly of ????. Memories of ???? threw an even sharper ???? across their lives. And yet the memories had come to seem like something out of a storybook. There was no avoiding the ???? that, around the ???? ?????, everything took on an ?????? of fiction.

Each instant brought them, more momentous than the explosion of Krakatoa. It was only that no one noticed. We are to accustomed to the absurdity of existence. The loss of a universe is not worth taking seriously.

Cuando se separaron lo labios, se produjo un profundo silencio, como si mil pájaros hubiesen suspendido repentinamente su canto.

Why, why?" he thought, gritting his teeth. "Why are people not allowed to do what is most beautiful, when ugly, shoddy acts, acts for the sake of gain, are all freely allowed?

What if fleshly entanglements were originally patterned on the erotic union of minds, and merely served as inevitable compensation born from despair?

Even as he spoke, the boy appeared to have forgotten the subject, as if it was a balloon he had abandoned to the sky.

At a time when every citizen must grit his teeth and endure hardship, these complaints that disrupt the national unity—'Oh, the villainy of the upper classes! Oh, the villainy of the financiers!'—all come from the mouths of self-seeking men.

Those who lack imagination have no choice but to base their conclusions on the reality they see around them. But on the other hand, those who are imaginative have a tendency to build fortified castles they have designed themselves, and to seal off every window. And so it was with Kiyoaki.

When the Golden Temple reflected the evening sun or shone in the moon, it was the light of the water (in the pond before it) that made the entire structure look as if it were mysteriously floating along and flapping its wings. The strong bonds of the temple's form were loosened by the reflection of the quivering water, and at such moments the Golden Temple seemed to be constructed of materials like wind and water and flame that are commonly in motion.

Venne un giorno, agli sgoccioli della primavera, che sembrava lo scampolo che un sarto avesse staccato da una pezza d'estate, oppure una prova in costume della stagione ventura.

El correr tiene un fin y el reposar también. La muerte parece que es el último reposo, aunque ni siquiera eso hay manera de saber cuánto dura.

I had long since insisted upon interpreting the things that Fate forced me to do as victories of my own will and intelligence, and now this bad habit had grown into a sort of frenzied arrogance. In the nature of what I was calling my intelligence there was a touch of something illegitimate, a touch of the sham pretender who has been placed on the throne by some freak chance. This dolt of a usurper could not foresee the revenge that would inevitably be wreaked upon his stupid despotism.

Küsides, mille nimel ta elab, muutub iga inimene rahutuks ja võib end isegi tappa. Mulle piisab ainuüksi sellest, et olemas olla. Kas kahtlus iseenda eksistentsi pärast ei teki just liigsest rahuolematusest, et ei elata täiel rinnal?

When I think how in the past couple of years your confidence in your knowledge of people has been shattered, how you have obtained in place of peace of mind only uncertainty, and in place of happiness a new, painful knowledge, how you ended at the place where you thought you would begin, and began at the place you had ended ... how you have been able to secure your present, peaceful uncertainty by sacrificing everything, my nature is such that I feel less sympathy than respect.

La paura che nasce dal desiderio] scuote terribilmente ma non causa profonde ferite. Tormenta la nostra anima ma al tempo stesso la alimenta, la rinvigorisce. E' l'azione di una forza misteriosa che conferisce al cuore umano uno stato di passività e gli dona la capacità di elevarsi, per poterlo trascinare in un luogo segreto designato dagli Dei.

I'm convinced that the trouble with you is, you're horribly greedy. Greedy men are apt to seem miserable. Look, what more could you want than a day like this?" "Something definite. What it might be, I've no idea

He realized that as long as conscious desire is at work, it will permit distinctions to exist. But if one can suppress it, these distinctions dissolve and one can be as content with a skull as with anything else.