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In the mansion called literature I would have the eaves deep and the walls dark, I would push back into the shadows the things that come forward too clearly, I would strip away the useless decoration. I do not ask that this be done everywhere, but perhaps we may be allowed at least one mansion where we can turn off the electric lights and see what it is like without them.

— Jun'ichirō Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows (1933)

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More quotes by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.

In Praise of Shadows (1933)

Every worm to his taste;
Some prefer to eat nettles.

Some Prefer Nettles (1929)

Such is our way of thinking — we find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.

In Praise of Shadows (1933)

Children retain a great deal, and when they grow up they start going over things and rejudging them from a grownup’s point of view. This must have been this way, and that was that way, they say. That’s why you have to be careful with children — some day they grow up.

Some Prefer Nettles (1929)

The quality that we call beauty...must always grow from the realities of life, and our ancestors, forced to live in dark rooms, presently came to discover beauty in shadows, ultimately to guide shadows towards beauty's ends.

In Praise of Shadows (1933)

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