Deishū Kaiki — memorable quote from Nisemonogatari

“Giving people what they want only results in temporary delight, and that you can only make a select few people happy that way.”

“No one fears death. They fear the life that leads up to death. If one could die without suffering, no one would fear death, right? Being alive is, itself, an exception. The natural state of things is death. And life is, itself, a kind of sickness. When the illness is cured, your life vanishes.”

“Life has no weight in itself; it’s a concept created by the observer that does not have a definite form. Essentially, life does not entail multiple instances but is just one massive wobbly lump. However, we tend to refer to the bodies that were formed out of that giant lump as “lives”. The essence of life is in all of us and can’t be “stolen” or “born.” As long as the essence of life exists, life does not decrease or increase, and it certainly won’t disappear.”

“Humans are pitiful beings, walking forward their backs to the future gazing at the past. This is why they fail to notice the simplest pitfalls and stumble tragically and comically.”

“The universe has a beginning, but no end. — Infinity. Stars, too, have their own beginnings, but their own power results in their destruction. — Finite. It is those who possess wisdom who are the greatest fools. History has shown us this. You could say that this is the final warning from God to those who resist.”