41 Quotes by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Putların yıkılmasında herkes hemfikirdir; fakat kimse heykelinin dikilmesine itiraz etmez. Ne var ki, o mermer kaidelerin üstünde ancak Tanrı'nın ilahi ayrıcalığına mazhar olmuş kulları, rahat ve kaygısız oturabilirler... Bunlar da aptallar, şerefsizler ve kahramanlardır.

عاقلانه‌ترین شیوه زندگی این است که بتوانی از آداب‌ورسوم عصر خود بیزار باشی اما به‌گونه‌ای عمل کنی که از بی‌حرمتی نسبت به آنها بپرهیزی.

I could wish for nothing more than to die for a childish dream in which I truly believed.

I don’t have the strength to keep writing this. To go on living with this feeling is painful beyond description. Isn’t there someone kind enough to strangle me in my sleep?

Yes – or rather, it’s not so much that I want to die as that I’m tired of living.

I may be a lunatic, but then, wasn’t my lunacy caused by a monster that lurks at the bottom of every human mind? Those who call me a madman and spurn me may become lunatics tomorrow. They harbor the same monster.

17. Butterfly A butterfly fluttered its wings in a wind thick with the smell of seaweed. His dry lips felt the touch of the butterfly for the briefest instant, yet the wisp of wing dust still shone on his lips years later.

Isn’t there someone kind enough to come strangle me in my sleep?

I have no conscience at all – least of all an artistic conscience. All I have is nerves.