If you aren't the woman I think you are, then this isn't the world I thought it was. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
It is confusing, because in this culture we really don't have anything that corresponds to geisha. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
It was what we Japanese called the onion life, peeling away a layer at a time and crying all the while. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
We don't become geisha because we want our lives to be happy; we become geisha because we have no choice. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
A geisha has studied a man's moods and his seasons. She fusses and he blooms. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
At that moment, beauty itself struck me as a kind of painful melancholy. — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
My mother once told me I was like water. Water can carve its way even through stone. And when trapped, water makes… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
A tree may look as beautiful as ever; but when you notice the insects infesting it, and the tips of the branches… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
What I really wanted to know, though, was what it was like to be a geisha? Where do you sleep? What do… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
“Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
“And yet if I drew my thoughts back from him, what life would I have? I would be like a dancer who… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
Geisha because when I was living in Japan, I met a fellow whose mother was a geisha, and I thought that was… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
“I'm not sure this will make sense to you but I felt as though I'd turned around to look in a different… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
“I was hardly worthy of these surroundings. And then I became aware of all the magnificent silk wrapped about my body, and… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
I studied Japanese language and culture in college and graduate school, and afterward went to work in Tokyo, where I met a… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
I can see you have a great deal of water in your personality. Water never waits. It changes shape and flows around… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
“I knew even then that she was right. An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to… — Arthur Golden Copy Share Image
He was like a song I'd heard once in fragments but had been singing in my mind ever since. — Arthur Golden Copy Share
Sometimes we get through adversity only by imagining what the world might be like if our dreams should ever come true. — Arthur Golden Copy Share
When we fight upstream against a rocky undercurrent, every foothold takes on a kind of urgency. — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever girl, and… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“I'm not sure this will make sense to you, but I felt as though I'd turned around to look in a different direction, so… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“We human beings are only a part of something very much larger. When we walk along, we may crush a beetle or simply cause… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
If you aren't the woman I think you are, then this isn't the world I thought it was. — Arthur Golden Copy Share
You know, the men go to tea houses with the expectation that they will have a nice quiet evening and not read about it… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“Most nights I lay on my futon I was sick with anxiety, and felt a pit inside myself as big and empty as if… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
Of course, a sign doesn't mean anything unless you know how to interpret it. — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“I knew even then that she was right. An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
“I'm not sure this will make sense to you but I felt as though I'd turned around to look in a different direction so… — Arthur Golden Copy Share
