Defeat begins with the fear that one has lost.

- Kobo Abe

Things have value Because somebody buys them, Because somebody pays money; If you can find a buyer, Even a lie is worth a thousand yen.

- Kobo Abe

Without the threat of punishment, there is no joy in flight.

- Kobo Abe

It's a dangerous dog that doesn't bark.

- Kobo Abe

When I look at small things, I think I shall go on living: drops of rain, leather gloves shrunk by being wet... When I look at something too big, I w…

- Kobo Abe

Suicide is an escape from life. What is life? An escape from death. This means that each of us must die twice. There is the death waiting for us ahea…

- Kobo Abe

Mankind, which has always been a part of nature, has reached a point where it is too much for nature to accommodate.

- Kobo Abe

Perhaps the act of writing is necessary when nothing happens.

- Kobo Abe

Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?

- Kobo Abe