Man always finds the omens he wants. - Yukio Mishima

The parting, like the white fruit of an apple discolouring instantly around the bite, had begun three days before when they had met aboard the Rakuyo.

Her nose was perfect; her lips exquisite. Like a master placing a go stone on the board after long deliberation, he placed the details of her beauty one by one in the misty dark and drew back to savour them.

[A] nation must ravage itself before foreigners can ravage it, a man must despise himself before others can despise him.