31 Best Osamu Dazai Quotes For All Budding Bookworms
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Osamu Dazai is said to be amongst the foremost Japanese authors who prolifically wrote multiple modern classics in Japan including 'The Setting Sun', 'No Longer Human', and many more.
He was initially known as Tsuji Tsushima, and was born in Northern Tohuku in Japan and was a student of French Literature at Tokyo University. That is until he neglected his studies and was eventually disowned by his family for running away with a geisha.
He later cleaned up his act and became a fervent writer under the accomplice of Masuji Ibuse under the pseudonym Osamu Dazai and slowly went on to become of the most celebrated writers of his time with his first publication being a short story named, 'Train'.
His works are marked with his signature autobiographical style and have greatly influenced his contemporaries and future writers as well.
Here is a list of some of the most important Osamu Dazai quotes to choose from.
If you like our content, you can check out other amazing articles like Yukio Mishima quotes and Daisaku Ikeda quotes.
'No Longer Human' Quotes By Osamu Dazai
'No Longer Human' is considered to be Osamu Dazai's magnum opus which is also ranked as the second best-selling Japanese book. It is the book that sensationalized the autobiographical style and is said to be his last will before his death. Here is a list of quotes from this iconic novel.
1. "I am convinced that human life is filled with many pure, happy, serene examples of insincerity, truly splendid of their kind-of people deceiving one another without (strangely enough) any wounds being inflicted, of people who seem unaware even that they are deceiving one another."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
2. "Now I have neither happiness nor unhappiness. Everything passes. That is the one and only thing that I have thought resembled a truth in the society of human beings where I have dwelled up to now as in a burning hell. Everything passes."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
3. "For someone like myself in whom the ability to trust others is so cracked and broken that I am wretchedly timid and am forever trying to read the expression on people's faces."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
4. "Mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
5. "All I feel are the assaults of apprehension and terror at the thought that I am the only one who is entirely unlike the rest."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
6. "The weak fear happiness itself."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
7. "Whenever I was asked what I wanted my first impulse was to answer 'Nothing.' The thought went through my mind that it didn't make any difference, that nothing was going to make me happy."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
8. "Unhappiness. There are all kinds of unhappy people in the world. I suppose it would be no exaggeration to say that the world is composed entirely of unhappy people."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
9. "If ever I meet someone society has designated as an outcast, I invariably feel affection for him, an emotion which carries me away in melting tenderness."
-Osamu Dazai.
10. "People talk of 'social outcasts.' The words apparently denote the miserable losers of the world, the vicious ones, but I feel as though I have been a 'social outcast' from the moment I was born."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
11. "They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
12. "Living itself is the source of sin."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
13. "I could believe in hell, but it was impossible for me to believe in the existence of heaven."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
14. "I shall be nothing, the wind, the sky."
-Osamu Dazai, 'No Longer Human'.
Noteworthy Dazai Osamu Quotes
Here is a list of some of the most iconic Osamu Dazai quotes from his life and his books as well as Osamu Dazai character quotes and Osamu Dazai 'Bungou Stray Dogs' quotes from the famous anime series featuring him as a character.
15. "It is almost impossible for me to converse with other people."
-Osamu Dazai.
16. "A true artist is an ugly man."
-Osamu Dazai.
17. "The world, after all, was still a place of bottomless horror. It was by no means a place of childlike simplicity where everything could be settled by a simple then-and-there decision."
-Osamu Dazai.
18. "What did he mean by 'society'? The plural of human beings?"
-Osamu Dazai.
19. "I hate the idea of getting old and ugly, you know. I’m not so afraid of dying, but the ravages of age just don’t match my aesthetic."
–Osamu Dazai, 'Bungou Stray Dogs'.
20. "A good book is always good, no matter how many times you’ve already read it."
–Osamu Dazai, 'Bungou Stray Dogs'.
21. "Justice is a weapon. It can be used to cause harm, but it cannot protect or save others."
-Osamu Dazai, 'Bungou Stray Dogs'.
Osamu Dazai 'The Setting Sun' Quotes
'The Setting Sun' by Osamu Dazai is to date one of his most celebrated works, which has also been adapted into a movie. The plot is set in Japan during the Second World War. Here is a list of quotes from 'The Setting Sun'.
22. "Now even if I die, no one will be so grieved as to do himself bodily harm."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
23. "As for love... no, having once written that word I can write nothing more."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
24. "I have no desire for others to take it on themselves to analyze my thoughts. I am without thoughts. I have never, not even once, acted on the basis of any doctrine or philosophy. I am convinced that those people whom the world considers good and respects are all liars and fakes. I do not trust the world."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
25. "Scoundrels simply don't die. The ones who die are always the gentle, sweet, and beautiful people. Scoundrels live a long time. The beautiful die young."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
26. "At times everything grows misty and dark before my eyes, and I feel that the strength of my whole body is oozing away through my finger tips."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
27. "Victims. Victims of a transitional period of morality. That is what we both certainly are."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
28. "Last year nothing happened
The year before nothing happened
And the year before that nothing
happened."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
29. "I like roses best. But they bloom in all four seasons. I wonder if people who like roses best have to die four times over again."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
30. "Addiction is perhaps a sickness of the spirit."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
31. "The real things are apt to be deviant."
-Osamu Dazai, 'The Setting Sun'.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Osamu Dazai quotes then why not take a look at Studio Ghibli quotes, or inspirational anime quotes.
Second Image Editorial credit: Tereza Koudelkova / Shutterstock.com
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature.
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