The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book spread out before you, and to make friends with people of a distant past you have never known.

Yoshida Kenko

More information about this quote

Topic

Reading

Author

Yoshida Kenko

Source

Essays in Idleness

Language

Japanese

Time

1332 1330s 14th century

Occupation

Buddhist monk Buddhist Monk Writer

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Yoshida Kenko. Tsurezuregusa [Essays in Idleness]. c. 1332, ch. 13.

Current Citation

Yoshida Kenko. Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, translated by Donald Keene. Columbia University Press, 1998, ch. 13.

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A quote by Yoshida Kenko about reading: “The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book…”
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A quote by Yoshida Kenko about reading: “The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under the lamp, a book…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 14th century

Haste denies all acts their dignity.

Dante Alighieri

Purgatorio

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Read the Divine Comedy at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Haste Taking one's time

Author

Dante Alighieri
Source
Purgatorio The Divine Comedy
Medium
Poem
Genre
Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature
Language
Italian
Time
1321 1320s 14th century
Era
Middle Ages
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Dante. "Purgatorio [Purgatory]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Dante. "The Purgatorio." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Another quote originally in Japanese

The months and days are the travelers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers... I too for years past have been stirred by the sight of a solitary cloud drifting with the wind to ceaseless thoughts of roaming.

Matsuo Basho

More information about this quote
Topic
Wanderlust Eternity

Author

Matsuo Basho
Source
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Genre
Travel writing
Language
Japanese
Time
1694 1690s 17th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Basho, Matsuo. おくのほそ道 [The Narrow Road to the Deep North]. Tokyo, 1702.

Current Citation

Basho, Matsuo. "The Narrow Road to the Deep North." The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa. Penguin Classics, 1967.