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Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

— Arthur Waley The Tale of Genji (1925)

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Dreams

More quotes by Arthur Waley

Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

It is in general the unexplored that attracts us.

The Tale of Genji (1925)

'Nothing in the world is difficult,' said the Patriarch, 'it is only our own thoughts that make things seem so.'

Monkey: Folk Novel of China (1942)

When translating prose dialogue one ought to make the characters say things that people talking English could conceivably say. One ought to hear them talking, just as a novelist hears his characters talk.

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Political leaders are never leaders. For leaders we have to look to the Awakeners! Lao Tse, Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Milarepa, Gurdjiev, Krishnamurti.

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Utu, shepherd of the land, father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you.

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Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me.

L. Frank Baum Introduction to The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

Religion in so far as it is a source of consolation is a hindrance to true faith; and in this sense atheism is a purification.

Simone Weil

Attribution

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