Lian Hearn

“...What does the blessing of heaven mean? We know the kirin is just an animal, not a mythical creature."It has become a symbol now.... That is the way human beings deal with the world.”

“I am what I am and what I have always been, a poor soul on a journey.”

“..while I was happy enough to pray to any god, knowing that they were simply different faces created by men, of one indivisible truth.”

“But, as your saints teach and we have always known, attachment enslaves you. Only those free from it see the world as it really is and have power over themselves and all things.”

“Like young fern shootsmy child's fingers curled.I did not expect,in the fifth month, frost.”

“The bonds between husband and wife spring from deep laws of destiny and should not be broken lightly.”

“But just as the river is always at the door, so is the world always outside. And it is in the world that we have to live.”