Sei Shonagon Quotes & Sayings

In life there are two things which are dependable. The pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of literature. — Sei Shonagon

185. It Is Getting So Dark
Whatever people may think of my book, I still regret that it ever came to light. — Sei Shonagon

There is nothing in the whole world so painful as feeling that one is not liked. — Sei Shonagon

One is telling a story about old times when someone breaks in with a little detail that he happens to know, implying that one's own version is inaccurate - disgusting behavior! — Sei Shonagon

How ever did I pass
the time before I knew you?
I think of that past time
as now I pass each passing day
in lonely sorrow, lacking you. — Sei Shonagon

14. Hateful Things: Someone has suddenly fallen ill and one summons the exorcist. Since he is not home, one has to send messages to look for him. After one has had a long fretful wait, the exorcist finally arrives, and with a sigh of relief one asks him to start his incantations. But perhaps he has been exorcising too many evil spirits recently; for hardly has he installed himself and begun praying when his voice becomes drowsy. Oh, how hateful! — Sei Shonagon

Lighting some fine incense and then lying down alone to sleep. Looking into a Chinese mirror that's a little clouded. — Sei Shonagon

134. Letters are Commonplace
Letters are commonplace enough, yet what splendid things they are! When someone is in a distant province and one is worried about him, and then a letter suddenly arrives, one feels as though one were seeing him face to face. Again, it is a great comfort to have expressed one's feelings in a letter even though one knows it cannot yet have arrived. If letters did not exist, what dark depressions would come over one! When one has been worrying about something and wants to tell a certain person about it, what a relief it is to put it all down in a letter! Still greater is one's joy when a reply arrives. At that moment a letter really seems like an elixir of life. — Sei Shonagon

If someone with whom one is having an affair keeps on mentioning some woman whom he knew in the past, however long ago it is since they separated, one is always irritated. — Sei Shonagon

25. Flowering trees
The blossom of the pear tree is the most prosaic, vulgar thing in the world. The less one sees this particular blossom the better ... — Sei Shonagon

27. Trees
I shall say absolutely nothing about the spindle tree. — Sei Shonagon

Women without prospect, who lead dull earnest lives and rejoice in their petty little pseudo-pleasures, I find quite depressing and despicable. — Sei Shonagon

8. The Cat Who Lived in the Palace
The cat who lived in the Palace had been awarded the head-dress of nobility and was called Lady Myobu. — Sei Shonagon

Pleasing things: finding a large number of tales that one has not read before. Or acquiring the second volume of a tale whose first volume one has enjoyed. But often it is a disappointment. — Sei Shonagon

A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as if he knew everything. — Sei Shonagon

It was a clear, moonlit night a little after the tenth of the Eighth Month. Her Majesty, who was residing in the Empress's Office, sat by the edge of the veranda while Ukon no Naishi played the flute for her. The other ladies in attendance sat together, talking and laughing; but I stayed by myself, leaning against one of the pillars between the main hall and the veranda.
'Why so silent?' said Her Majesty. 'Say something. It is sad when you do not speak.'
'I am gazing at the autumn moon,' I replied.
'Ah yes,' she remarked. 'That is just what you should have said. — Sei Shonagon

A man you've had to conceal in some unsatisfactory hiding place, who then begins to snore. — Sei Shonagon

Sometimes a person who is utterly devoid of charm will try to create a good impression by using very elegant language; yet he only succeeds in being ridiculous. — Sei Shonagon

A palm-leaf carriage should move slowly, or else it loses its dignity. — Sei Shonagon

I do wish men, when they're taking their leave from a lady at dawn, wouldn't insist on adjusting their clothes to a nicety, or fussily tying their lacquered cap securely into place. After all, who would laugh at a man or criticize him if they happened to catch sight of him on his way home from an assignation in fearful disarray, with his cloak or hunting costume all awry? — Sei Shonagon

To wash your hair, apply your makeup and put on clothes that are well-scented with incense. Even if you're somewhere where no one special will see you, you still feel a heady sense of pleasure inside. — Sei Shonagon

64. Surprising and Distressing Things
While one is cleaning a decorative comb, something catches in the teeth and the comb breaks.
A carriage overturns. One would have imagined that such a solid, bulky object would remain forever on its wheels. It all seems like a dream
astonishing and senseless.
A child or grown-up blurts out something that is bound to make people uncomfortable.
All night long one has been waiting for a man who one thought was sure to arrive. At dawn, just when one has forgotten about him for a moment and dozed off, a crow caws loudly. One wakes up with a start and sees that it is daytime
most astonishing.
One of the bowmen in an archery contest stands trembling for a long time before shooting; when finally he does release his arrow, it goes in the wrong direction. — Sei Shonagon

30. Insects
The fly should have been included in my list of hateful things; for such an odious creature does not belong with ordinary insects ... — Sei Shonagon

A good lover will behave just as elegantly at dawn as at any other time. — Sei Shonagon

Someone who butts in when you're talking and smugly provides the ending herself. Indeed anyone who butts in, be they child or adult, is most infuriating. — Sei Shonagon

If writing did not exist, what terrible depressions we should suffer from. — Sei Shonagon

Sarusawa Pond is a very special place, because the Emperor paid it a formal visit when he heard how one of the Palace Maidens had drowned herself there. 1 Thinking of Hitomaro's marvellous words 'her hair tangled as in sleep', there is really nothing I can add. — Sei Shonagon

To wash one's hair, make one's toilet, and put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one, these preparations still produce an inner pleasure. — Sei Shonagon

185. It Is Getting So Dark
I am the sort of person who approves of what others abhor and detests the things they like. — Sei Shonagon