52 Quotes by Kenzaburō Ōe

"What was more, Japan was driven into isolation from other Asian countries, not only politically but also socially and culturally."

"As I grew up, I was continually to suffer hardships in different realms of life - in my family, in my relationship to Japanese society and in my way of living at large in the latter half of the twentieth century."

"During the last few years I have been engaged in writing a trilogy which I wish to be the culmination of my literary activities."

"The ideal teacher student relationship exists when the student is better than the teacher."

"I don't think young people need to see the face of the deceased."

"To talk of prayer after admitting he professed no faith was, in my opinion, a breach of common courtesy. In this sense, he did make a social blunder, for which I think he well deserved some minor castigation."

"Fundamentally a good author has his or her own sense of style. There is a natural, deep voice, and that voice is present from the first draft of a manuscript. When he or she elaborates on the initial manuscript, it continues to strengthen and simplify that natural, deep voice."

"I think I am doing my works to link myself, my family, with society — with the cosmos. To link me with my family to the cosmos, that is easy, because all literature has some mystic tendency. So when we write about our family, we can link ourselves to the cosmos."

"The writer's job is the job of a clown …the clown who also talks about sorrow."

"If any suffering was fruitless it was the agony of a hangover; what he suffered now could not expiate suffering of any other kind."