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Easily moved by beauty—such is my nature.
I take a few phrases
and they just turn into poems

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Beauty

More quotes by Ryōkan

In the scenery of spring,
nothing is better, nothing worse;
The flowering branches are
of themselves, some short, some long.

Haiku : Spring (1950)

In this dream world
We doze
And talk of dreams —
Dream, dream on,
As much as you wish

Lust for Enlightenment : Buddhism and Sex (1990)

The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.

The water of the valley stream
Never shouts at the tainted world: “Purify yourself!”
But naturally, as it is,
Shows how it is done.

Zen Poetics of Ryokan (2006)

You must rise above
The gloomy clouds
Covering the mountaintop
Otherwise, how will you
Ever see the brightness?

Lust for Enlightenment : Buddhism and Sex (1990)

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Beautiful objects are wrought by study through effort, but ugly things are reaped automatically without toil.

Democritus Freeman (1948)

True beauty dwells in deep retreats,
Whose veil is unremoved
Till heart with heart in concord beats,
And the lover is beloved.

William Wordsworth

The great artists are the ones who dare to entitle to beauty things so natural that when they're seen afterward, people say: Why did I never realize before that this too was beautiful?

André Gide The Immoralist (1902)

Beauty itself doth of itself persuade
The eyes of men without an orator.

William Shakespeare The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ryōkan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.