I Am A Cat Quotes
Excepts from "I Am A Cat" before I have to return it...
"My master suffers random spasms of concern about his growing daughters. Their growth is unpreventable, and they are certainly all growing. Indeed, the speed of their growth reminds one of the sheer blue force of a bamboo shoot accelerating into sapling size in the garden of some Zen-perveying temple." - 492
"It is painfully easy to define human beings. They are beings who, for no good reason at all, creature their own unnecessary suffering." - 493
"'Mr. Jizo, the people in this town would like you to move. Would you be so kind as to do so?' And the Jizo promptly replied, 'Of course I'll do so. Why ever didn't they come and ask before?' With that he slowly moved away to a corner of the crossroads." - 510
"Human beings are, alas, so made that the more they indulge in secret schemes, schemes whose very secrecy breeds evil, the deeper they drive the wellsprings of their own unhappiness. And the specific reason why so many ladies are so much less happy than the average man is precisely because ladies overindulge themselves in secret schemes." - Yukie, 511
"If one is to make a worthwhile study of mankind, it is vital to seize upon eventful moments." - 519
"The saying goes that even motes of dust, if enough of them pile up, will make a mountain." - 521
"The foregoing events occurred precisely as I have recorded them and, as external realities, they left their quaint, little ripples on the stream of time." - 529
"We'll follow a path as thickly wooded as possible, one where even in daytime few people pass. Then, before you know it, we'll find ourselves thinking we're far away from the dusty city and a feeling, I'm sure, will grow within us that we've somehow wandered away into far-off mountains." - 535
"Well then, how about joining me for such an adventure? I'm sure we'll enjoy it. An experience to be treasured. Everyone, sometime, that's how I see it, really ought to hear a tiger roar from the depths of night." - 536
" 'That passed,' the poet said, 'so may this too.' " - 548
" ' As I was saying, 'I plan, I plan,'
Daylight darkened
And the night began. " - 552
"I am not at all surprised. Your weeping does you credit. All artists are essentially emotional and their tears are distillations of the truth of things." - 566
"I was sleeping," he managed to get out, "like a white cloud on the mountain top. I've had a delightful nap." - 584
'One must perish into life.' - 590
"The heightened self-awareness of our contemporaries means that they realize only too well the wide gap between their own interests and those of other people; as the advance of civilization daily widens that gap, so this so-called self-awareness intensifies to a point where everyone becomes incapable of natural or unaffected behavior." - 598 - 599
"In the old days, a man was taught to forget himself. Today it is quite different: he is taught not to forget himself and he accordingly spends his days and nights in endless self-regard. Who can possibly know peace in such an eternally burning hell? The apparent realities of this awful world, even the beastliness of being, are all symptoms of that sickness for which the only cure lies in learning to forget the self...
Who simply sit and, sitting all night through
Under a drifting moon, themselves withdrew
Themselves from Self an thereby came to be
Free of the world and from all Being free." - 600
"When individual awareness grow so strong, how can mutual gentleness be expected?" - 602
"The choice is yours. As Seneca advises, no man should carp at life when the road to freedom runs down every vein." - 604
"The moral is simply this: that one should always be war of the common human failing of allowing oneself to be blinded by habit to basic realities." - 610
"Well, the grounds for my forecast have already been stated and, I think, accepted: that modern society is centered, to the exclusion of all else, upon the idea of individuality." - 614
"The point is that they can only live together if their separate individualities are sufficiently harmonious. No question of disharmony arose in the old days because, being in the Confucian phase 'two bodies but one spirit,' husband-and-wife was a single person." - 616
"Now that the pressures of individuality are bringing on all sorts of nervous disorders, we are at last able to grasp the meaning of the ancient tag that 'people are carefree under firm rule.'" - 622
"Which is pleasant and quite normal, but the sad fact is that long-continued, pleasant normality becomes a bore." - 633
Ch'u Yuan is the main Chu poet.His representative work is 'On Encountering Sorrow' (Li-sao),the longest Romantic poet ever in China,totalling 373 lines & 2490 words.Style is descriptive & full of imaginery & mythological allusions.Its greatest achievement lies in its use of symbolism which is not hyperbolic to reflect his thoughts & ideals.The content relates his lifestory & his anger of the evils of court intrigue & the decadence of the nobility.After being banished from his beloved state at the orders of evil courtiers that influenced the ruler,the righteous poet was forced to wander about,writing poetry,including 'Li-sao',obeserving folk rites & legends that greatly influenced his works.Finally when the Chu capital fell to the Chin troops,he drowned himself in despair & agony on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese Lunar year,into the River Mi-lo.There was a search for his body & the people threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat the poet's body.From this,we can see the love the people have for him,which leaves him an illustrious name in history who gained everlasting respect.Over the years,it came to be the famous Dragonboat/Rice dumpling Festival. The picture on this page is a cartoonised version of him,as he carries a triangular shaped yellow colored dumpling. - Taken from http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/wen/chou.html in reference to a reference in the book.
"My master suffers random spasms of concern about his growing daughters. Their growth is unpreventable, and they are certainly all growing. Indeed, the speed of their growth reminds one of the sheer blue force of a bamboo shoot accelerating into sapling size in the garden of some Zen-perveying temple." - 492
"It is painfully easy to define human beings. They are beings who, for no good reason at all, creature their own unnecessary suffering." - 493
"'Mr. Jizo, the people in this town would like you to move. Would you be so kind as to do so?' And the Jizo promptly replied, 'Of course I'll do so. Why ever didn't they come and ask before?' With that he slowly moved away to a corner of the crossroads." - 510
"Human beings are, alas, so made that the more they indulge in secret schemes, schemes whose very secrecy breeds evil, the deeper they drive the wellsprings of their own unhappiness. And the specific reason why so many ladies are so much less happy than the average man is precisely because ladies overindulge themselves in secret schemes." - Yukie, 511
"If one is to make a worthwhile study of mankind, it is vital to seize upon eventful moments." - 519
"The saying goes that even motes of dust, if enough of them pile up, will make a mountain." - 521
"The foregoing events occurred precisely as I have recorded them and, as external realities, they left their quaint, little ripples on the stream of time." - 529
"We'll follow a path as thickly wooded as possible, one where even in daytime few people pass. Then, before you know it, we'll find ourselves thinking we're far away from the dusty city and a feeling, I'm sure, will grow within us that we've somehow wandered away into far-off mountains." - 535
"Well then, how about joining me for such an adventure? I'm sure we'll enjoy it. An experience to be treasured. Everyone, sometime, that's how I see it, really ought to hear a tiger roar from the depths of night." - 536
" 'That passed,' the poet said, 'so may this too.' " - 548
" ' As I was saying, 'I plan, I plan,'
Daylight darkened
And the night began. " - 552
"I am not at all surprised. Your weeping does you credit. All artists are essentially emotional and their tears are distillations of the truth of things." - 566
"I was sleeping," he managed to get out, "like a white cloud on the mountain top. I've had a delightful nap." - 584
'One must perish into life.' - 590
"The heightened self-awareness of our contemporaries means that they realize only too well the wide gap between their own interests and those of other people; as the advance of civilization daily widens that gap, so this so-called self-awareness intensifies to a point where everyone becomes incapable of natural or unaffected behavior." - 598 - 599
"In the old days, a man was taught to forget himself. Today it is quite different: he is taught not to forget himself and he accordingly spends his days and nights in endless self-regard. Who can possibly know peace in such an eternally burning hell? The apparent realities of this awful world, even the beastliness of being, are all symptoms of that sickness for which the only cure lies in learning to forget the self...
Who simply sit and, sitting all night through
Under a drifting moon, themselves withdrew
Themselves from Self an thereby came to be
Free of the world and from all Being free." - 600
"When individual awareness grow so strong, how can mutual gentleness be expected?" - 602
"The choice is yours. As Seneca advises, no man should carp at life when the road to freedom runs down every vein." - 604
"The moral is simply this: that one should always be war of the common human failing of allowing oneself to be blinded by habit to basic realities." - 610
"Well, the grounds for my forecast have already been stated and, I think, accepted: that modern society is centered, to the exclusion of all else, upon the idea of individuality." - 614
"The point is that they can only live together if their separate individualities are sufficiently harmonious. No question of disharmony arose in the old days because, being in the Confucian phase 'two bodies but one spirit,' husband-and-wife was a single person." - 616
"Now that the pressures of individuality are bringing on all sorts of nervous disorders, we are at last able to grasp the meaning of the ancient tag that 'people are carefree under firm rule.'" - 622
"Which is pleasant and quite normal, but the sad fact is that long-continued, pleasant normality becomes a bore." - 633
Ch'u Yuan is the main Chu poet.His representative work is 'On Encountering Sorrow' (Li-sao),the longest Romantic poet ever in China,totalling 373 lines & 2490 words.Style is descriptive & full of imaginery & mythological allusions.Its greatest achievement lies in its use of symbolism which is not hyperbolic to reflect his thoughts & ideals.The content relates his lifestory & his anger of the evils of court intrigue & the decadence of the nobility.After being banished from his beloved state at the orders of evil courtiers that influenced the ruler,the righteous poet was forced to wander about,writing poetry,including 'Li-sao',obeserving folk rites & legends that greatly influenced his works.Finally when the Chu capital fell to the Chin troops,he drowned himself in despair & agony on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese Lunar year,into the River Mi-lo.There was a search for his body & the people threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat the poet's body.From this,we can see the love the people have for him,which leaves him an illustrious name in history who gained everlasting respect.Over the years,it came to be the famous Dragonboat/Rice dumpling Festival. The picture on this page is a cartoonised version of him,as he carries a triangular shaped yellow colored dumpling. - Taken from http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/wen/chou.html in reference to a reference in the book.
