Sei Shonagon Quotes

• In life there are two things which are dependable. The pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of literature.

  Sei Shonagon

  Two, Literature, Flesh

  10 Copy quote

• There is nothing in the whole world so painful as feeling that one is not liked.

  Sei Shonagon

  Feelings, World, Painful

  Sei Shōnagon (1960). “The pillow-book of Sei Shonagon: Translated by Arthur Waley”

  10 Copy quote

• A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as if he knew everything.

  Sei Shonagon

  Men, Particular, Subjects

  Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

  10 Copy quote

• If letters did not exist, what dark depressions would come over one! When one has been worrying about something and wants to tell a certain person about it, what a relief it is to put it all down in a letter! Still greater is one's joy when a reply arrives. At that moment a letter really seems like an elixir of life.

  Sei Shonagon

  Dark, Worry, Joy

  11 Copy quote

• A good lover will behave just as elegantly at dawn as at any other time.

  Sei Shonagon

  Good Love, Dawn, Lovers

  5 Copy quote

• If someone with whom one is having an affair keeps on mentioning some woman whom he knew in the past, however long ago it is since they separated, one is always irritated.

  Sei Shonagon

  Jealousy, Past, Long Ago

  5 Copy quote

• One is telling a story about old times when someone breaks in with a little detail that he happens to know, implying that one's own version is inaccurate — disgusting behavior!

  Sei Shonagon

  Details, Stories, Littles

  Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

  7 Copy quote

• To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one, these preparations still produce an inner pleasure.

  Sei Shonagon

  Hair, Self, Soul

  Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

  5 Copy quote

• Pleasing things: finding a large number of tales that one has not read before. Or acquiring the second volume of a tale whose first volume one has enjoyed. But often it is a disappointment.

  Sei Shonagon

  Disappointment, Numbers, Firsts

  Sei Shōnagon (1967). “The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon”

  7 Copy quote

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