The proverbial philosophy of a people helps us to understand more about them than any other kind of literature.

The great principle of Western society is that competition rules here as it rules in everything else. The best man - that is to say, the strongest and cleverest - is likely to get the best woman, in the sense of the most beautiful person.

The subject of Finnish poetry ought to have a special interest for the Japanese student, if only for the reason that Finnish poetry comes more closely in many respects to Japanese poetry than any other form of Western poetry.

As a result, the highly civilized man can endure incomparably more than the savage, whether of moral or physical strain. Being better able to control himself under all circumstances, he has a great advantage over the savage.

Education isn't part of my agenda, it is my agenda.

I am such a reclusive person that, literally, when I am done shooting, at some level I sort of disassociate myself, and I get back to reading my books.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

I don't think because you have money you have taste... Education and money - this is quite rare. No?