A Tale for the Time Being

by Ruth Ozeki

Print is predictable and impersonal, conveying information in a mechanical transaction with the reader’s eye. Handwriting, by contrast, resists the eye, reveals its meaning slowly, and is as intimate as skin.

Life is fleeting! Don’t waste a single moment of your precious life! Wake up now! And now! And now!

I believe it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you can find something concrete to keep you busy while you are living your meaningless life.

He was nineteen, just three years older than I am now. I’m sorry, but I would totally freak out if someone told me I had to go to war in three years. I’m just a kid!

“A wave is born from deep conditions of the ocean,” she said. “A person is born from deep conditions of the world. A person pokes up from the world and rolls along like a wave, until it is time to sink down again. Up, down. Person, wave.”

Still, what’s the point in beating yourself up when other people will do it for you?

I have a pretty good memory, but memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die.