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Osamu Dazai Quotes - Page 3

All Quotes Feelings Liars Waiting
I soon came to understand that drink, tobacco and prostitutes were all great means if dissipating (even for a few moments) my dread for human beings. I came even to feel that if I had to sell every last possession to

I soon came to understand that drink, tobacco and prostitutes were all great means if dissipating (even for a few moments) my dread for human beings. I came even to feel that if I had to sell every last possession to obtain these means of escape, it would be well worth it.

Osamu Dazai
Mean, Would Be, Lasts

I also have the impression that many women have been able, instinctively, to sniff out this loneliness of mine, which I confided to no one, and this in later years was to become one of the causes of my being taken advantage of.

Osamu Dazai
Loneliness, Taken, Years
Osamu Dazai (1973). “No Longer Human”, p.38, New Directions Publishing

I was afraid to board a streetcar because of the conductor; I was afraid to enter the Kabuki Theater for fear of the usherettes standing along the sides of the red-carpeted staircase at the main entrance; I was afraid to go into a restaurant because I was intimidated by the waiters furtively hovering behind me waiting for my plate to be emptied.

Osamu Dazai
Waiting, Awkward, Boards
Osamu Dazai (1973). “No Longer Human”, p.61, New Directions Publishing

It isn't that I dislike artists, but I can't stand anyone who puts on those ponderous airs of a man of character.

Osamu Dazai
Character, Men, Artist
Osamu Dazai (1956). “The Setting Sun”

One day, I went to a soba restaurant outside town, and while I was waiting for the zarusoba I opened an old graph magazine. There was a picture of an exhausted, lonely kneeling woman who wore a checked patterned yukata after the tradegy of a large earthquake. With the intensity of my chest ready to burn up, I fell in love with that poor woman. I also felt a horrifying desire for her. Maybe tragedy and desire are back to back to one another.

Osamu Dazai
Lonely, Earthquakes, Waiting

Having said that, I must now admit that I was still afraid of human beings, and before I could meet even the customers in the bar I had to fortify myself by gulping down a glass of liquor. The desire to see frightening things—that was what drew me every night to the bar where, like the child who squeezes his pet all the harder when he actually fears it a little, I proclaimed to the customers standing at the bar my drunken, bungling theories of art.

Osamu Dazai
Art, Children, Night

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