Quotes from The Temple of Dawn

Yukio Mishima ·  336 pages

Rating: (2.5K votes)


“السقوط في الحب امتياز خاص يُمنح لشخص يسمح له مظهره الخارجي، وفتنته الحسية، وجهله الداخلي، وافتقاره للتنظيم، وغياب إدراكه، بتشكيل نوع من الصورة الخيالية عن الآخرين.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from The Temple of Dawn


“Better to be caught in sudden, complete catastrophe than to be gnawed by the cancer of imagination.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from The Temple of Dawn


“On reflection, falling in love for him was not only extraordinary, but rather comical. By having closely observed Kiyoaki Matsugae, he knew full well what sort of man should fall in love.
Falling in love was a special privilege given to someone whose external, sensuous charm and internal ignorance, disorganization, and lack of cognizance permitted him to form a kind of fantasy about others. It was a rude privilege. Honda was quite aware that since his childhood, he had been the opposite of such a man.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from The Temple of Dawn


“Life strove mightily to exile orthodoxy, hospitalize heresy, and trap humanity into stupidity. It was an accumulation of used bandages soiled with layers of blood and pus. Life was the daily changing of the bandages of the heart that made the incurably sick, young and old alike, cry out in pain.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from The Temple of Dawn


“However, whatever frightening mask it might assume, the national spirit in its original state was of pristine whiteness. Traveling through a country like Thailand, Honda realized more clearly than ever the simplicity and purity of things Japanese, like transparent stream water
through which one could glimpse pebbles below, or the probity of Shinto rites. Honda’s life was not imbued with such spirit. Like the majority of Japanese he ignored it, behaving as though it did not exist and surviving by
escaping from it. All his life he had dodged things fundamental and artless: white silk, clear cold water, the zigzag white paper of the exorciser’s staff fluttering in the breeze, the sacred precinct marked by a torii, the gods’
dwelling in the sea, the mountains, the vast ocean, the Japanese sword with its glistening blade so pure and sharp. Not only Honda, but the vast majority of Westernized Japanese, could no longer stand such intensely native elements.”
― Yukio Mishima, quote from The Temple of Dawn



About the author

Yukio Mishima
Born place: in Yotsuya district of Tokyo, Japan
Born date January 14, 1925
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Ya no existe el cohete. Nunca existió. Ni la gente. No hay nadie en todo el universo. Nunca hubo nadie. Ni planetas. Ni estrellas". Eso decía. Y luego algo acerca de sus pies y sus piernas y sus manos: "No mas manos", decía. "Ya no tengo manos. Nunca las tuve. Ni cuerpo. Nunca lo tuve. Ni boca. Ni cara. Ni cabeza. Nada. Solamente espacio. Solamente el abismo".”
― Ray Bradbury, quote from The Illustrated Man


“What would I do without you? I'd die of stress and depression before nature killed me.”
― James Dashner, quote from The Kill Order


“I agree with you, Captain,” he whispered. “The human race has to live with its conscience. Whatever the Hermians argue, survival is not everything.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from Rendezvous with Rama


“I'm in love. And I like how that feels. And I hate how that feels. Because love is an invention of fiction writers.”
― Ellen Hopkins, quote from Identical


“I am sure that no man asks mercy and grace with true meaning, but if mercy and grace have first been given him.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Katherine


Interesting books

Daniel Martin
(2.1K)
Daniel Martin
by John Fowles
The Other Side of Dawn
(12.1K)
The Other Side of Da...
by John Marsden
Byzantium
(4K)
Byzantium
by Stephen R. Lawhead
To Have or to Be? The Nature of the Psyche
(5.2K)
To Have or to Be? Th...
by Erich Fromm
Oracle Night
(11.7K)
Oracle Night
by Paul Auster
The Yellow Birds
(20.8K)
The Yellow Birds
by Kevin Powers

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.