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Sei Shonagon Quotes

A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as if he knew everything.

A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as if he knew everything.

Sei Shonagon
Men, Particular, Subjects
Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

In life there are two things which are dependable. The pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of literature.

Sei Shonagon
Two, Literature, Flesh

There is nothing in the whole world so painful as feeling that one is not liked.

Sei Shonagon
Feelings, World, Painful
Sei Shōnagon (1960). “The pillow-book of Sei Shonagon: Translated by Arthur Waley”

If letters did not exist, what dark depressions would come over one! When one has been worrying about something and wants to tell a certain person about it, what a relief it is to put it all down in a letter! Still greater is one's joy when a reply arrives. At that moment a letter really seems like an elixir of life.

Sei Shonagon
Dark, Worry, Joy

A good lover will behave just as elegantly at dawn as at any other time.

Sei Shonagon
Good Love, Dawn, Lovers

If someone with whom one is having an affair keeps on mentioning some woman whom he knew in the past, however long ago it is since they separated, one is always irritated.

Sei Shonagon
Jealousy, Past, Long Ago

One is telling a story about old times when someone breaks in with a little detail that he happens to know, implying that one's own version is inaccurate — disgusting behavior!

Sei Shonagon
Details, Stories, Littles
Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one, these preparations still produce an inner pleasure.

Sei Shonagon
Hair, Self, Soul
Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

Pleasing things: finding a large number of tales that one has not read before. Or acquiring the second volume of a tale whose first volume one has enjoyed. But often it is a disappointment.

Sei Shonagon
Disappointment, Numbers, Firsts
Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

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