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

“People with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called *character,* a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to the other, more instantly negotiable virtues.... character--the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life--is the source from which self-respect springs.”
― Joan Didion, quote from Slouching Towards Bethlehem


“If the Good Lord didn't want men to play with themselves, we'd have hooks for hands.”
― Mackenzi Lee, quote from The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue


“Humans are often this way. They go about their lives, constantly working, complaining of boredom one minute and overwork the next. They pause only to observe the niceties of society, greeting each other with 'Good morning' while their minds are somewhere else completely.”
― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, quote from In the Forests of the Night


“You wanna beer?”
Jasper’s brows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Fuck no,” Layne replied.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Golden Trail


“Nash has been the sun lighting up the horizon of my life, outshining everything else in my world. I'd thought once that he was to good to be true. Turns out I was right.”
― Rachel Vincent, quote from My Soul to Keep


Interesting books

A Red Herring Without Mustard
(31.6K)
A Red Herring Withou...
by Alan Bradley
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
(36.8K)
Killers of the Flowe...
by David Grann
Something Rotten
(28.7K)
Something Rotten
by Jasper Fforde
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
(8.9K)
The Divine Conspirac...
by Dallas Willard
The Ascent of Man
(5K)
The Ascent of Man
by Jacob Bronowski
Double Standards
(10.2K)
Double Standards
by Judith McNaught

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.