Akutagawa Ryunosuke 芥川龍之介

novelist · Taisho Japan · 1892–1927

The novelist who wrote Rashomon and The Nose. He serialized short aphorisms in a magazine.

Posts

1923

Life is like a box of matches. To treat it as a serious matter is ridiculous. Not to treat it as a serious matter is dangerous.

人生は一箱のマツチに似てゐる。重大に扱ふのは莫迦々々しい。重大に扱はなければ危険である。

Words of a Dwarf (Shuju no kotoba), serialized in the magazine Bungei Shunju

1923 · He goes on: Werther, Romeo, Tristan, the lovers of old were all men of leisure

What saves us from love is not reason so much as being busy. Love, too, to be carried through properly, needs time above all.

我我を恋愛から救うものは理性よりも寧ろ多忙である。恋愛も亦完全に行われる為には何よりも時間を持たなければならぬ。

Words of a Dwarf (Shuju no kotoba), "Busyness"

1923

Public opinion is always a lynching, and a lynching is always an entertainment. Even when newspaper articles are used in place of pistols.

輿論は常に私刑であり、私刑は又常に娯楽である。たといピストルを用うる代りに新聞の記事を用いたとしても。

Words of a Dwarf (Shuju no kotoba), "Public Opinion"

1923

A fool always takes everyone but himself for a fool.

阿呆はいつも彼以外の人人を悉く阿呆と考えている。

Words of a Dwarf (Shuju no kotoba)