“Meiji Era”

“New York City vagrant:"What sort of 'nese are you people? Are you Chinese, or Japanese, or Javanese?"Kakuzo Okakura responds:"We are Japanese gentleman. But what sort of 'key are you? Are you a Yankee, or a donkey, or a monkey?”

“Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same?”

“We are ever brutal to those who love and serve us in silence, but the time may come when, for our cruelty, we shall be deserted by these best friends of ours.”

“Approach a great painting as thou wouldst approach a great prince.”

“Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness. The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are of the masterpiece.”

“People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly.”