Kenzaburō Ōe

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The dead can survive as part of the lives of those that still live

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Understanding comes hard to persons of high rank who are accustomed to phony lifestyles that involve no daily work

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It takes a person of great care and insight to watch for any abnormality in the green grass even while it grows abundantly and healthily

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We are much too tolerant of the moral aberration of statesmen and bureaucrats

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Once a person has been poisoned by self-deception, he can't make decisions about himself as neatly as all that," Himiko said, elaborating her friend's terrific prophecy; " You won't get a divorce Bird. You'll justify yourself like crazy, and try to salvage your married life by confusing the real issues. A decision like divorce is beyond you now, Bird, the poison has gone to work. And you know how the story ends ? Not even your own wife will trust you absolutely, and one day you'll discover for yourself that your entire private life is in the shadow of deception and in the end you'll destroy yourself. Bird, the first signs of self-destruction have appeared already!" " But that's a blind alley! Leave it to you to paint the most hopeless future you can think of. " Bird lunged at jocularity