The road was frozen. The village lay quiet under the cold sky. Komako hitched up the skirt of her kimono and tucked it into her obi. The moon shone like a blade frozen in blue ice.

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The true joy of a moonlit night is something we no longer understand. Only the men of old, when there were no lights, could understand the true joy of a moonlit night.

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Cosmic time is the same for everyone, but human time differs with each person. Time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way.

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A secret, if it's kept, can be sweet and comforting, but once it leaks out it can turn on you with a vengeance.

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And I can't complain. After all, only women are able really to love.

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Because you cannot see him, God is everywhere.

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Our language is primarily for expressing human goodness and beauty.

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Seeing the moon, he becomes the moon, the moon seen by him becomes him. He sinks into nature, becomes one with nature. The light of the "clear heart" of the priest, seated in the meditation hall in the darkness before the dawn, becomes for the dawn moon its own light.

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Does pain go away and leave no trace, then?’ ‘You sometimes even feel sentimental for it.

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A child walked by, rolling a metal hoop that made a sound of autumn.

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