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As things stand now the feudal lords are content to look on while the shogunate carries on in a highhanded manner. Neither the lords nor the shogun can be depended upon, and so our only hope lies in grass-roots heroes.
— Yoshida Shoin
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More quotes by Yoshida Shoin
If Heaven does not completely abandon this land of the Gods, there must be an uprising of grass-roots heroes.
If the body dies, it does no harm to the mind, but if the mind dies, one can no longer act as a man even though the body survives.
Life and death, union and separation, follow hard upon one another. Nothing is steadfast but the will, nothing endures but one's achievements. These alone count in life.
To consider oneself different from ordinary men is wrong, but it is right to hope that one will not remain like ordinary men.
Once the will is resolved, one’s spirit is strengthened. Even a peasant's will is hard to deny, but a samurai of resolute will can sway ten thousand men.
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