An Artist of The Floating World

by Kazuo Ishiguro

‘When you are young, there are many things which appear dull and lifeless. But as you get older, you will find these are the very things that are most important to you.’

The best things, he always used to say, are put together of a night and vanish with the morning.

For their kind do not know what it is to risk everything in the endeavour to rise above the mediocre.