The Book of Tea

by Kakuzō Okakura

Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.

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