Harshness is for the good of a boy, soft-heartedness will ruin him.

- Ihara Saikaku

In life it is training rather than birth which counts.

- Ihara Saikaku

For each of the four hundred and four bodily ailments celebrated physicians have produced infallible remedies, but the malady which brings the greate…

- Ihara Saikaku

Like ice beneath the sun's rays - to such poverty did he fall...his fortune melted to water.

- Ihara Saikaku

To think twice in every matter and follow the lead of others is no way to make money.

- Ihara Saikaku

Ancient simplicity is gone...the people of today are satisfied with nothing but finery.

- Ihara Saikaku

If we live by subhuman means we might as well never have had the good fortune to be born human.

- Ihara Saikaku

To make a fortune some assistance from fate is essential. Ability alone is insufficient.

- Ihara Saikaku

No longer can a young woman feel at ease; for she is ever concerned with the impression that she may be making on others.

- Ihara Saikaku