Quotes Compiled - Japan
Latest: 5 Oct 2025


"Don’t think of what you have to do, don’t consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise."
Japanese proverb often cited in kyudo (Zen archery)


"Resting is also part of climbing."
"To reach higher, you must sometimes be still. Rest is not the end of the path, but the breath that carries you on."
Yasumo koto mo noboru koto no chibu da.
/ Japanese saying /



"Though the wind blows, the mountain does not move"
\ Japanese proverb \


"If you get on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station; the longer it takes you to get off, the more expensive the return trip will be."
/ Japanese Legend /


"Vision without action is a day dream.
Action without a vision is a nightmare."
-- Japanese Proverb


"Saru mo ki kara ochiru" -- Even monkeys fall from trees.
/ Japanese proverb /


"Good deeds should be done quickly, without heaistating."
~~ Japanese Proverb


"The pebble in the brook secretly thinks itself a precious stone."
-- Japanese Proverb


"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence."
-- Lin Yutang


"Preoccupied with a single leaf,
You won't see the tree.
Preoccupied with a single tree,
You'll miss the entire forest."
-- Takuan


"As is the gardener, so is the garden."
-- Anon


Y
"The quieter you become the more you are able to hear."
-- Zen Saying


"No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow."
-- Lin Yutang


"Flow with whatever may happen
And let you mind be free."
-- Chuang Tzu

Y
"Beginning is easy; continuing is hard."
-- Japanese Proverb


"If there is magic on this planet; it is contained in water."
-- Loreen Eiseley


"Life begins on the day you start a garden."
-- Japanese Proverb


"Matters of great concern, Should be treated lightly.
Matters if small concern should be treated seriously."
/ Japanese Saying /


"Fall seven times, get up eight."
-- Japanese Proverb