Five Women Who Loved Love Quotes

“To know nothing is to know the peace of Buddha.

- The Story of Seijuro in Himeji”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan

“When people are sad they usually make such unreasonable requests that, deity though I am, I am unable to fulfill them. Some pray to be made rich overnight. Some covet other people's wives. Some want to kill the people they hate. Some want the rain changed to sunny weather. Some even want the nose they were born with to be a little bigger. Everyone wants something else. They all pray in vain to Buddha and to the gods, even though their requests cannot possibly be granted, thus making nuisances of themselves.”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan

“Life is short; love is long.

- The Barrelmaker Brimful of Love”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan

“This [help] set the flames of love burning more fiercely in the cooper's heart and he cried: 'My lady, I will supply you with all the firewood you will need to make tea for the rest of your life.'

In this world no one knows how long a person may live, and it is amusing to think that love should have made him promise so much.”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan

“In this world we cannot afford to be careless. When travelling, keep the money in your waistband out of sight. Do not display your knife to a drunkard, and don't show your daughter to a monk, even if he seems to have given up the world”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan

“This is a stern world and sin never goes unpunished.”
― Saikaku Ihara, Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-century Japan