Quote

1689·Kamakura, Japan

In this mortal frame of mine, which is made of a hundred bones and nine orifices, there is something, and this something is called a wind-swept spirit, for lack of a better name.

Similar Thoughts

Mary Wollstonecraft·1796

It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organised dust — ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable, and life is more than a dream.

Pindar·446 BC

Man is a dream of a shadow. But when god-given brightness comes, a shining light rests on men, and life is sweet.

Friedrich Nietzsche·1883

The body is a great reason, a plurality with one sense, a war and a peace, a flock and a shepherd.

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More from Matsuo Bashō

1690

Even in Kyoto — hearing the cuckoo's cry — I long for Kyoto.

1694

Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests they are about to die.

1694

Do not follow in the footsteps of the old masters, but seek what they sought — and find it in the mountains, the rivers, and the open sky.

Locus

Kamakura, Japan

Tempus