You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay. - Murasaki Shikibu

It is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. Especially one-sided persons are troublesome. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion.

Does it not move you strangely, the love-bird's cry, tonight when, like the drifting snow, memory piles up on memory?

One ought not to be unkind to a woman merely on account of her plainness, any more than one had a right to take liberties with her merely because she was handsome.