"But even more than her diary, Shimamura was surprised at her statement that she had carefully cataloged every novel and short story she had read since she was fifteen or sixteen. The record already filled ten notebooks.
"You write down your criticisms, do you?"
"I could never do anything like that. I just write down the author and the characters and how they are related to each other. That is about all."
"But what good does it do?"
"None at all."
"A waste of effort."
"A complete waste of effort," she answered brightly, as though the admission meant little to her. She gazed solemnly at Shimamura, however.
A complete waste of effort. For some reason Shimamura wanted to stress the point. But, drawn to her at that moment, he felt a quiet like the voice of the rain flow over him. He knew well enough that for her it was in fact no waste of effort, but somehow the final determination that it was had the effect of distilling and purifying the woman's existence."
— Yasunari Kawabata (Snow Country)

"The road was frozen. The village lay quiet under the cold sky. Komako hitched up the skirt of her kimono and tucked it into her obi. The moon shone like a blade frozen in blue ice."
— Yasunari Kawabata (Snow Country)

"The woman was silent, her eyes on the floor. Shimamura had come to a point where he knew he was only parading his masculine shamelessness, and yet it seemed likely enough that the woman was familiar with the failing and need not be shocked by it. He looked at her. Perhaps it was the rich lashes of the downcast eyes that made her face seem warm and sensuous. She shook her head very slightly, and again a faint blush spread over her face."
— Yasunari Kawabata (Snow Country)

"En el mundo habia gente tan parecida entre si que se los podria tomar por padres e hijos. Pero dificilmente existieran muchos en el mundo. Ta vez hubiera un solo hombres que pudiera corresponderse con una muchacha y una sola joven que combinara con un hombre. Solo uno para algun otro; y tal vez en todo el mundo una sola pareja posible. Viven como extranos, sin supone ningun tipo de lazo entre ellos y hasta ignorantes de la existencia del otro.
Por casualidad suben a mismo tren, se reunen por primera vez y probablemente nunca vuelvan a encontrarse. Treinta minutos en el curso de toda una vida. Se separan sin decirse una palabra. Habiendo estado sentados uno al lado del otro, sin mirarse, sin darse cuenta del parecido, se alejan siendo parte de un milagro del que no tomaron conciencia.
Y el unico admirado por la rareza de todo eso es un extrano que se pregunta si, al ser un accidental testigo no estara participando de un milagro."
— Yasunari Kawabata

"Un dia, mientras escribia una carta, Otoko abrio el diccionario para consultar el ideograma 'pensar'. Al repasar los restantes significados (añorar, ser incapaz de olvidar, estar triste) sintio que el corazon se le encogia. Tuvo miedo de tocar el diccionario... Aun ahi estaba Oki. Innumerables palabras se lo recordaban. Vincular todo lo que veia y oia con su amor equivalia a estar viva. La conciencia de su propio cuerpo era inseparable del recuerdo de aquel abrazo."
— Yasunari Kawabata (Lo bello y lo triste)

""But, drawn to her at that moment, he felt a quiet like the voice of the rain flow over him. He knew well enough that for her it was in fact no waste of effort, but somehow the final determination that it was had the effect of distilling and purifying the woman's existence."
"
— Yasunari Kawabata (Snow Country)

"'I wonder what the retirement age is in the novel business.'

'The day you die.'"
— Yasunari Kawabata (Beauty and Sadness)

"'Manusia yang tak mau gelisah, sesungguhnya dia telah mati'"
— Yasunari Kawabata

"El tiempo paso. Pero el tiempo se divide en muchas corrientes. Como en un rio, hay una corriente central rapida en algunos sectores y lenta, hasta inmovil, en otros. El tiempo cosmico es igual para todos, pero el tiempo humano difiere con cada persona. El tiempo corre de la misma manera para todos los seres humanos; pero todo ser humano flota de distinta manera en el tiempo."
— Yasunari Kawabata (Lo bello y lo triste)

"Because you cannot see him, God is everywhere."
— Yasunari Kawabata