How Do You Live?

by Genzaburo Yoshino

“People, Uncle—they really are molecules, aren’t they? Today I really started to believe that.”

But if you think one step further, it’s because human beings have a natural tendency to look at and think of things as if they were always at the center.

thus one could say that people who are able to think Copernicus-style even about these things are exceptionally great people.

It represents a change to a new and broader way of thinking: the Copernican way.

If it means anything at all to live in this world, it’s that you must live your life like a true human being and feel just what you feel. This is not something that anyone can teach from the sidelines, no matter how great a person they may be.

make a habit of thinking honestly, with your own experience as a foundation, and—Copper, this is very important!—if someone fakes this part, no matter what kind of great-sounding things they think or say, they are all lies in the end.

The most important thing—more than what other people think, more than anything—is that you should first know for yourself, truly and deeply, where human greatness lies.

There are lots of people in the world who act just for appearance’s sake—in order to seem great in the eyes of others. That type of person worries first about how they are reflected in other people’s eyes, and they inadvertently end up neglecting their true selves, as they really are. I hope you don’t become that sort of person. And that is why you absolutely must attend to the things you feel in your own heart, the things that move you deeply. That is what is most important, now and always. Do not forget this, and think carefully about what it means.

Courage grows in a person, higher than any barrier, and then even your precious life becomes less precious. I think that’s the most fantastic thing.

When you, too, become an adult, you will eventually come to know how many small, virtuous people there are who have the best intentions but who cannot realize them, all because of weakness.

The world is full of people who are not bad, but weak, people who bring unnecessary misfortune upon themselves and others for no reason but weakness. A heroic spirit that’s not devoted to human progress may be empty and meaningless, but goodness that is lacking in the spirit of heroism is often empty as well.

Even when we become adults, it often happens that we think back on things with regret. We wonder, Why didn’t I do what was in my heart that one time?