“New York City vagrant: "What sort of 'nese are you people? Are you Chinese, or Japanese, or Javanese?" Kakuzo Okakura responds: "We are Japanese gentleman. But what sort of 'key are you? Are you a Yankee, or a donkey, or… — Kakuzo Okakura Copy Share Image
“Nothing is more hallowing than the union of kindred spirits in art. At the moment of meeting, the art lover transcends himself. At once he is and is not. He catches a glimpse of Infinity... Freed from the fetters of matter, his spirit moves in the rhythm of things. It is thus that art becomes akin to religion and ennobles… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share
“Welcome to thee, O sword of eternity! Through Buddha And through Daruma alike Thou hast cleft thy way.” — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share Image
“Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same?” — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share Image
“At the magic touch of the beautiful the secret chords of our being are awakened, we vibrate and thrill in response to its call. Mind speaks to mind. We listen to the unspoken, we gaze upon the unseen. The master calls forth notes we know not of. Memories long forgotten all come back to us with a new significance. Hopes… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share
“Have you not noticed that the wild flowers are becoming scarcer every year? It may be that their wise men have told them to… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share Image
“Behold the complacent salesman retailing the Good and True. One can even buy a so-called Religion, which is really but common morality sanctified with flowers and music. Rob the Church of her accessories and what remains behind? Yet the trusts thrive marvelously, for the prices are absurdly cheap,--a prayer for a ticket to heaven, a diploma for an honorable citizenship.Hide… — Kakuzo Okakura Copy Share
“Sad as it is, we cannot conceal the fact that in spite of our companionship with flowers we have not risen very far above the brute. Scratch the sheepskin and the wolf within us will soon show his teeth. It has been said that a man at ten is an animal, at twenty a lunatic, at thirty a failure, at… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share
“The claims of contemporary art cannot be ignored in any vital scheme of life. The art of to-day is that which really belongs to us: it is our own reflection. In condemning it we but condemn ourselves. We say that the present age possesses no art:—who is responsible for this? It is indeed a shame that despite all our rhapsodies… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share
“We are ever brutal to those who love and serve us in silence, but the time may come when, for our cruelty, we shall… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share Image
“Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same? The observance of communal traditions involves a constant sacrifice of the individual to the state. Education, in order to keep up the mighty delusion, encourages a species of ignorance. People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave… — Kakuzō Okakura Copy Share
