From Basho: “In the end, without skill or talent, I’ve given myself over entirely to poetry. Po Chu-i labored at it until he nearly burst. Tu Fu starved rather than abandon it. Neither my intelligence nor my writing is comparable to such men. Nevertheless, in the end, we ALL live in phantom huts.”
Tag Archives: art
Quote of the day 07/16/25
From Basho: “The temple bell stopsBut the sound keeps comingout of the flowers”
Quote of the day 07/15/25
From Basho: “There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.”
Quote of the day 07/13/25
From Basho: “When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.”
Quote of the day 07/11/25
From Basho: “Real poetry is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.”
Quote of the day 06/14/25
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions – the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.”
Quote of the day 06/05/25
From R.H. Blyth: “…when we think about ourselves, we are deeply conscious of our physical pains and pleasure, but if we forget ourselves, the body too, becoming one with the mind, is hardly aware of its pain and pleasure, cold and heat. How much our happiness depends upon the condition of our minds, is shownContinue reading “Quote of the day 06/05/25”
Quote of the day 06/02/2025
William Wordsworth on poetry: “It’s object is truth … carried alive into the heart by passion: truth which is its own testimony.”
Quote of the day 05/23/25
From R.H. Blyth: “Thus we see that love of all living creatures which springs up naturally in our hearts, unless thwarted by instruction, custom, or self-love, is no more and no less than our Buddha-nature manifesting itself. Further, love, like knight errantry, equalizes all things, and this equality of all things, the absolute worth andContinue reading “Quote of the day 05/23/25”
Quote of the day 05/13/25
From Kikaku: The beggar! He has heaven and earth For his summer clothes.
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