“Folks with most to complain about seldom complain most.”

“For white men, to live is to own, or to try to own more, or to die trying to own more. Their appetites are astonishing! They own wardrobes, slaves, carriages, houses, warehouses, and ships. They own ports, cities, plantations, valleys, mountains, chains of islands. They own this world, its jungles, its skies, and its seas. Yet they complain that Dejima is a prison. They complain they are not free.”

“Whoever dies with the most stuff wins.”

“Perhaps those deprived of beauty perceive it most instinctively.”

“War's an auction where whoever can pay the most in damage and still be standing wins.”

“why human beings despise what is beautiful and good, and seek to destroy the things they need the most”

“Always, it is the poor people who pay. And always, it is the poor people's women who pay the most.”