“If onlyit were possible to juicily belch up the lifeone's lived, chew it anew and gulp it down,and then once more to roll it with a fat,ox-like tongue, to squeeze from its eternaldregs the former sweetness of crisp grass,drunk with the morning dew and the bitternessof lilac leaves!”

“The scent of flowers grew stronger and came from all sides; the grass was drenched with dew; a nightingale struck up in a lilac bush close by and then stopped on hearing our voices; the starry sky seemed to come down lower over our heads.”

“But for your eyes. Green as spring grass, and sparkling like dew in the morning sun.”

“Your body is like a dew-drop on the morning grass, your life is as brief as a flash of lightning. Momentary and vain, it is lost in a moment. (From 'Fukan zazengi')”

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things, does the heart find its morning and is refreshed.”

“The leaves had fallen from the trees and lay crisp and crackling beneath his feet. Picking one up he marveled, not for the first time, at the perfection of nature where leaves were most beautiful at the very end of their lives.”