In joy or sadness flowers are our constant friends.

Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same?

It has been said that man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at forty a fraud, and at fifty a criminal.

Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It...

…But it is also told that Niuka forgot to fill two tiny crevices in the blue firmament. Thus began the dualism of love–two souls rolling through space and never at rest until they join together...

In the liquid amber within the ivory porcelain, the initiated may touch the sweet reticence of Confucius, the piquancy of Laotse, and the ethereal aroma of Sakyamuni himself.

Welcome to thee,O sword of eternity!Through BuddhaAnd through Daruma alikeThou hast cleft thy way.

We are ever brutal to those who love and serve us in silence, but the time may come when, for our cruelty, we shall be deserted by these best friends of ours.

[Tea-masters] have given emphasis to our natural love of simplicity, and shown us the beauty of humility. In fact, through their teachings tea has entered the life of the people.

Fain would we remain barbarians, if our claim to civilization were to be based on the gruesome glory of war.

How can one be so serious with the world when the world itself is so ridiculous?

Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness. The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are...

One altar forever is preserved, that whereon we burn incense to the supreme idol,–ourselves, our god is great, and money is his Prophet! We devastate nature in order to make sacrifice to him; we boast...

Approach a great painting as thou wouldst approach a great prince.

The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.

The tea-masters held that real appreciation of art is only possible to those who make of it a living influence. Thus they sought to regulate their daily life by the high standard of refinement which...

Tea … is a religion of the art of life.

True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally complete the incomplete.

Perhaps we reveal ourselves too much in small things because we have so little of the great to conceal.

Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of...

But when we consider how small after all the cup of human enjoyment is, how soon overflowed with tears, how easily drained to the dregs in our quenchless thirst for infinity, we shall not blame...

People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly.