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There is not a man who does not get senile by the time he reaches sixty. And when one thinks that he will not be senile, he is already so.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Age: 60 †
Born: 1659
Born: June 11
Died: 1719
Died: November 30
Bushi
Philosopher
Writer
Hizen Domain
Men
Time
Senile
Thinking
Reaches
Sixty
Thinks
Already
War
Doe

More quotes by Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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Light matters should be dealt with seriously. Serious matters should be dealt with lightly.
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If a retainer will just think about what he is to do for the day at hand, he will be able to do anything. If it is a single day's work, one should be able to put up with it. Tomorrow, too is but a single day.
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When someone is giving you his opinion, you should receive it with deep gratitude even though it is worthless. If you don't, he will not tell you the things that he has seen and heard about you again.
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As long as people overlook matters, then inferiors can, without any fear, lead an easy and peaceful life.
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There is nothing we should be quite so grateful for as the last line of the poem that goes, 'When your own heart asks.
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The deepest love is often hidden.
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It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all Ways and be more and more in accord with his own.
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Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like.
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You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.
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Tether even a roasted chicken.
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An affected laugh shows lack of self-respect in a man and lewdness in a woman. It is carelessness to go about with one's hands inside the slits in the sides of his hakama.
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Continue to spur a running horse.
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If one is but secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation. But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one's way of doing things are found in trivial matters.
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The basic meaning of etiquette is to be quick at both the beginning and end and tranquil in the middle.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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There is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished.
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One must know the so-called 'lesson of a downpour. A man, caught in a sudden rain en route, dashes along the road not to get wet or drenched. Once one takes it for granted that in rain he naturally gets wet, he can be in a tranquil frame of mind even when soaked to the skin. This lesson applies to everything.
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It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.
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Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind... then the Great Way is right before your eyes.
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Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.
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