It seems hopeless, hopeless. Those who eat meat [at public expense] are a mean, selfish lot, and so the country is doomed. Our only hope lies in the grass-roots folk who eat our traditional food.

What is important in a leader is a resolute will and determination. A man may be versatile and learned, but if he lacks resoluteness and determination, of what use will he be?

To consider oneself different from ordinary men is wrong, but it is right to hope that one will not remain like ordinary men.

If the body dies, it does no harm to the mind, but if the mind dies, one can no longer act as a man even though the body survives.

Life and death, union and separation, follow hard upon one another. Nothing is steadfast but the will, nothing endures but one's achieve­ments. These alone count in life.

Once the will is resolved, one's spirit is strengthened. Even a peasant's will is hard to deny, but a samurai of resolute will can sway ten thou­sand men.

Flesh, blood, bone--the body is only a container for who we truly are inside.

Get yourself into something that you don't have passion for and feel like an idiot always.

White is actually one of my favorite colors. I have a white car. I love white.

I've been working on my finishing for quite some time. It's just a question of paying attention to the minor details.

I always wear my sweater back-to-front; it is so much more flattering.

Boasting, like gilded armour, is very different inside from outside.

Writing stories is the habit of lying put to good use.

You cannot be both fashionable and first-rate

When Frank Zappa would get an idea for a song, he just did it. He didn't wait for anybody or expect anyone to do it.