Have you ever looked at the quotes page on the World of Miura Ayako website? Whether from her works of fiction or non-fiction, Miura left behind numerous memorable quotes. Like this one from her autobiography The Wind is Howling:
Back in my room I thought hard. Although my spine was being eaten away by tuberculosis and I stumbled as I walked, we had been blind to its presence simply because it had not appeared on the X-ray. If this ignorance had continued, might not all my bones have been affected? I certainly would have died. And then I thought, "The same could be true of my soul." Maybe I did not realize my heart was being eaten away or how infected I was, simply because I was unaware of my sin. I found this thought very frightening.
--or this one from the as-yet-untranslated collection of essays, Kodoku no tonari (next door to loneliness):
Life is as full of material to learn from as a gravel road is full of stones. Not having gone to school is itself something to learn from. So is poverty, a weak constitution, failure, a broken heart, ignorance, prosperity, and adversity. If you have the will to learn from it, anything can be teaching material.
What passages from a Miura book have left a lasting impression on you? Please share them with us in the comments box below.
