37 Quotes by Kakuzō Okakura

True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally complete the incomplete.

Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same?

Tis said that Chowmushih slept in a boat so that his dreams might mingle with those of the lotus. It was the same spirit which moved the Empress Komio, one of our most renowned Nara sovereigns, as she sang: "If I pluck thee, my hand will defile thee, O flower! Standing in the meadows as thou art, I offer thee to the Buddhas of the past, of the present, of the future.

Les maîtres sont immortels, cars leurs amours et leurs peurs vivent en nous à tout jamais. C'est l'âme plutôt que la main, l'homme plutôt que la technique, qui nous fait signe - et plus le signe est humain, plus s'approfondit son écho en nous.

Nothing is more hallowing than the union of kindred spirits in art. At the moment of meeting, the art lover transcends himself. At once he is and is not. He catches a glimpse of Infinity... Freed from the fetters of matter, his spirit moves in the rhythm of things. It is thus that art becomes akin to religion and ennobles mankind. It is this which makes a masterpiece something sacred.

Tea ... is a religion of the art of life.

Si l'on considère la petitesse dévolue à la coupe du bonheur humain, la promptitude avec laquelle elle déborde de larmes, la facilité avec laquelle nous la vidons jusqu'à la lie dans notre soif inapaisable d'infini, qui pourrait bien nous reprocher de faire si grand cas d'une simple tasse de thé ?

One of the first requisites of a tea-master is the knowledge of how to sweep, clean, and wash, for there is an art in cleaning and dusting.

Perhaps we reveal ourselves too much in small things because we have so little of the great to conceal.