The Book of Tea

by Kakuzō Okakura

Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.

Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.

For life is an expression, our unconscious actions the constant betrayal of our innermost thought.

Laotse himself, with his quaint humour, says, "If people of inferior intelligence hear of the Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed at it."

The idea that everyone should have a house of his own is based on an ancient custom of the Japanese race, Shinto superstition ordaining that every dwelling should be evacuated on the death of its chief occupant.

In Western houses we are often confronted with what appears to us useless reiteration. We find it trying to talk to a man while his full-length portrait stares at us from behind his back.

The simplicity of the tea-room and its freedom from vulgarity make it truly a sanctuary from the vexations of the outer world.