30+ Murasaki Shikibu Quotes (Elegant, Poetic And Refined)

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet, and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known for writing The Tale of Genji, a classic work of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century. The novel is considered to be the world's first novel and is still widely read today.

Top 10 Murasaki Shikibu Quotes

1. Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.
2. Beauty without colour seems somehow to belong to another world.
3. It is in general the unexplored that attracts us.
4. There is a tendency among men as well as women ... so soon as they have acquired a little knowledge of some kind, to want to display it to the best advantage.
5. How much the more in judging of the human heart should we distrust all fashionable airs and graces, all tricks and smartness, learnt only to please the outward gaze
6. One ought not to be unkind to a woman merely on account of her plainness, any more than one had a right to take liberties with her merely because she was handsome
7. No penance can your hard heart find save such as you long since have taught me to endure
8. Stepmothers in books usually behave very spitefully towards the children entrusted to them. But he was now learning by his own experience that in real life this does not always happen.
9. Though the body moves, the soul may stay behind.
10. The memories of long love gather like drifting snow, poignant as the mandarin ducks who float side by side in sleep.

Murasaki Shikibu Short Quotes

• Autumn is no time to lie alone
• farewell' is a monster among words, and never yet sounded kindly in any ear.
• Intimacy between stepchildren and stepparents is indeed proverbially difficult.
• How strange a thing is the heart of man!
• People who do not get into scrapes are a great deal less interesting than those who do.
• Foolish indeed are those who trust to fortune.
• Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.
• In few people is discretion stronger than the desire to tell a good story.
• There is more here than meets the eye.
• There are as many sorts of women as there are women.

Murasaki Shikibu Famous Quotes And Sayings

It is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. Especially one-sided persons are troublesome. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion. — Murasaki Shikibu

In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank whom the emperor loved more than any of the others. The grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous upstart, and lesser ladies were still more resentful. Everything she did offended someone. — Murasaki Shikibu

Some ... have imagined that by arousing a baseless suspicion in the mind of the beloved we can revive a waning devotion. But this experiment is very dangerous. Those who recommend it are confident that so long as resentment is groundless one need only suffer it in silence and all will soon be well. I have observed however that this is by no means the case. — Murasaki Shikibu

It is indeed in many ways more comfortable to belong to that section of society whose action are not publicly canvassed and discussed — Murasaki Shikibu

Who has told you that the fruit belies the flower? For the fruit you have not tasted, and the flower you know but by report. — Murasaki Shikibu

Old age is a disease from which there is no recovery but the old nun's recent attack had certainly been brought on chiefly by the fatigue of so much travelling. — Murasaki Shikibu

You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay. — Murasaki Shikibu

A night of endless dreams, inconsequent and wild, is this my life; none more worth telling than the rest. — Murasaki Shikibu

No art or learning is to be pursued halfheartedly...and any art worth learning will certainly reward more or less generously the effort made to study it. — Murasaki Shikibu

I have a theory of my own about what the art of the novel is, and how it came into being....It happens because the storyteller's own experience...has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart. — Murasaki Shikibu

Life Lessons by Murasaki Shikibu

1. Murasaki Shikibu's work demonstrates the importance of observing and understanding the complexities of human relationships. Through her writing, she emphasizes the importance of compassion and empathy when interacting with others.
2. Murasaki Shikibu's work also highlights the power of storytelling and its ability to capture the nuances of human emotion. She emphasizes the importance of using storytelling to communicate and connect with others.
3. Finally, Murasaki Shikibu's work serves as a reminder that we must be mindful of our own actions and how they can affect the lives of those around us. Her writing encourages us to be thoughtful and considerate in our dealings with others.