As an American man of the 1990s writing about a Japanese woman of the 1930s, I needed to cross three cultural divides - man to woman, American to Japanese, and present to past. Arthur Golden More Quotes by Arthur Golden More Quotes From Arthur Golden I don't know when we'll see each other again or what the world will be like when we do. We may both have seen many horrible things. But I will think of you every time I need to be reminded that there is beauty and goodness in the world. Arthur Golden saying-goodbye life thinking 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 away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are. Arthur Golden strength success inspirational Never give up; for even rivers someday wash dams away. Arthur Golden dams giving-up rivers I don't think any of us can speak frankly about pain until we are no longer enduring it. Arthur Golden pain speak thinking If you keep your destiny in mind, every moment in life becomes an opportunity for moving closer to it. Arthur Golden destiny opportunity moving I stumbled out into the courtyard to try to flee my misery, but of course we can never flee the misery that is within us. Arthur Golden misery sad trying When we fight upstream against a rocky undercurrent, every foothold takes on a kind of urgency. Arthur Golden urgency fighting kind Grief is a most peculiar thing; we’re so helpless in the face of it. It’s like a window that will simply open of its own accord. The room grows cold, and we can do nothing but shiver. But it opens a little less each time, and a little less; and one day we wonder what has become of it. Arthur Golden one-day grief grieving At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it. Arthur Golden three loss death My mother once told me I was like water. Water can carve its way even through stone. And when trapped, water makes a new path. Arthur Golden mother stones water I never seek to defeat the man I am fighting, " he explained. "I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. Two men are equals - true equals - only when they both have equal confidence. Arthur Golden confidence fighting men We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them. Arthur Golden fighting use moving It was what we Japanese called the onion life, peeling away a layer at a time and crying all the while. Arthur Golden layers onions cry Hopes are like hair ornaments. Girls want to wear too many of them. When they become old women they look silly wearing even one. Arthur Golden girl stupid silly Watch for the thing that will show itself to you. Because that thing, when you find it, will be your future. Arthur Golden your-future shows watches Perhaps it seems odd that a casual meeting on the street could have brought about such change. But sometimes life is like that isn't it Arthur Golden life-is-like odd sometimes For a flicker of a moment I imagined a world completely different from the one I'd always known, a world in which I was treated with fairness, even kindness-- a world in which fathers didn't sell their daughters. Arthur Golden daughter kindness father Now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper. Arthur Golden our-world ocean struggle Of course, a sign doesn't mean anything unless you know how to interpret it. Arthur Golden memories-of-a-geisha courses mean Can't you see? Every step I have taken, since I was that child on the bridge, has been to bring myself closer to you. Arthur Golden taken bridges children
