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To desire with one’s very soul every second of every day to accomplish one’s aim.

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
Second
Desire
Soul
Every
Aim
Accomplish

More quotes by Yamamoto Tsunetomo

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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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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Sincerity does not only complete the self it is the means by which all things are completed. As the self is completed, there is human-heartedness as things are completed, there is wisdom. This is the virtue of one’s character, and the Way of joining the internal and external. Thus, when we use this, everything is correct.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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Bushido is realised in the presence of death. In the case of having to choose between life and death you should choose death. There is no other reasoning.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material posessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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A person who is discreet in speaking will be useful during the good times and will avoid punishment during the bad.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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I have found that the Way of the samurai is death. This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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A samurai will use a toothpick even though he has not eaten. Inside the skin of a dog, outside the hide of a tiger.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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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.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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The deepest love is often hidden.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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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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The person who practices an art is an artist, not a samurai, and one should have the intention of being called a samurai.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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As everything in this world is but a sham, Death is the only sincerity.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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Having only wisdom and talent is the lowest tier of usefulness.
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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You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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One should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo
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This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo