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Osamu Dazai Quotes

1909–1948

Writers

Random Osamu Dazai quote

188 quotes

I have suffered much at the hands of human society. Forgive me if I seem overly suspicious.

I was a petal quivering in the slightest breeze, about to fall any moment. Even the slightest insult made me think of dying.

At times everything grows misty and dark before my eyes, and I feel that the strength of my whole body is oozing away through my finger tips.

I go about saying how pained and tormented, how lonely and sad I feel, but what do I really mean by that? If I were to speak the truth, I would die.

I had now lost all confidence in myself, doubted all men immeasurably, and abandoned all hopes for the things of this world, all joy, all sympathy, eternally.

This year I am twenty-seven. My hair has become much greyer. Most people would take me for over forty.

Last year nothing happened
The year before nothing happened
And the year before that nothing happened.

Women sleep so soundly they seem to be dead. Who knows? Women may live in order to sleep.

Even if Mary gives birth to a child who is not her husband's, if she has a shining pride, they become a holy mother and child.

I was plagued by a heavy sense of loss, as if my heart had become empty.

Glasses are like a ghost.
The reason I hate glasses so much is because I think the beauty of your eyes is the best thing about people.

Long personal experience had taught me that when a woman suddenly bursts into hysterics, the way to restore her sprits is to give her something sweet.

It occurred to me that prison life might actually be pleasanter than groaning away my sleepless nights in hellish dread of the "realities of life" as led by human beings.

If he wears a tag, doesn't that make him harmless? It sounds rather sweet, like a kitten with a bell around its neck. A dissolute character without a tag is what frightens me.

For some reason, filters on cigarettes seem dirty to me. If you were going to smoke, then it had to be unfiltered. Smoking those Shikishimas throws a person's whole character into question.

I sat there agape, looking at the flowers, and thought to myself, There are really good things about human beings. I mean, it's humans who discovered the beauty of flowers, and humans who admire them.

I soon came to understand that drink, tobacco and prostitutes were all great means of 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.

I’m going to paint too. I’m going to paint pictures of ghosts and devils and horses out of hell.

What, I wondered, did he mean by "society"? The plural of human beings?

After being hurt by the world so much, they began to see the demons within humans. So without hiding it through trickery, they worked to express it.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Osamu Dazai (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.