Seek not the paths of the ancients; Seek that which the ancients sought.
MATSUO BASHOSummer grasses — all that remains of great soldiers’ imperial dreams.
More Matsuo Basho Quotes
-
-
The universe and its beings are a complementarity of empty infinity, intimate interrelationships, and total uniqueness of each and every being.
MATSUO BASHO -
The oak tree: not interested in cherry blossoms.
MATSUO BASHO -
The moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
MATSUO BASHO -
Come out to view / the truth of flowers blooming / in poverty.
MATSUO BASHO -
Breaking the silence Of an ancient pond, A frog jumped into water – A deep resonance.
MATSUO BASHO -
Real poetry, is to lead a beautiful life. To live poetry is better than to write it.
MATSUO BASHO -
Poverty’s child – he starts to grind the rice, and gazes at the moon.
MATSUO BASHO -
There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
MATSUO BASHO -
The sea darkens And a wild duck s call Is faintly white.
MATSUO BASHO -
Between our two lives there is also the life of the cherry blossom.
MATSUO BASHO -
Calm and serene The sound of a cicada Penetrates the rock.
MATSUO BASHO -
I felt quite at home, / As if it were mine sleeping lazily / In this house of fresh air.
MATSUO BASHO -
When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.
MATSUO BASHO -
Year’s end, all corners of this floating world, swept.
MATSUO BASHO -
The journey itself is my home.
MATSUO BASHO