“Yet once being born there is no turning back.”

Children understand intuitively that the world they have been born into is not a blessed world.

Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you’ll be flying again.

Our lives are like the wind or like sounds. We come into being, resonate with each other. Then fade away.

We depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation.

If you release your subconscious it becomes really hard to live a social or family life.

The winds of time eventually turn them into the tools of industrial civillisation. It’s never unscathed.

First: don’t panic! Second: don’t panic! And third: did I mention not to panic?!

There are so many things we can’t do anything about if we think about generalities

I wanted to convey the message to children that this life is worth living.

Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.

There are all kinds of values within the films but I don’t make message films.

I find it pointless sitting in my house not working, though I like to go on extended vacations from time to time.

Humans have both the urge to create and destroy.

Problems begin the moment we’re born. We’re born with infinite possibilities, only to give up on one after another. To choose one thing means to give up another. That’s inevitable. But what can you do? That’s what it is to live.

When I start creating a villain, I start liking the villain and so the villain is not really evil.

People in Japan have experienced many tsunamis and various earthquakes throughout the ages.

The best is yet to come.

Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while

Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.

It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before.

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms – you’ll be able to use them better when you’re older.