294Japanese quotation 名言
智に働けば角が立つ。情に棹させば流される。意地を通せば窮屈だ。
ちにはたらけばかどがたつ。じょうにさおさせばながされる。いじをとおせばきゅうくつだ。Chi ni hatarakeba kado ga tatsu. Jō ni saosaseba nagasareru. Iji o tōseba kyūkutsu da.
“Act on reason, and you grow sharp-cornered. Pole along feeling, and you are swept away. Force your will, and you are cramped. Decidedly, the human world is hard to live in.”
The meaning
None of the three compasses — intellect, heart, will — suffices alone. Sōseki gives no solution: he gives lucidity, and that is already half of balance.
At the origin
The opening of "Kusamakura" (1906) by Natsume Sōseki, one of the most quoted pages of the Japanese novel.
The characters
- 智 chireason, intellect
- に nion, by
- 働けば hatarakebaif you act
- 角
- が
- 立つ
- 。
- 情
- に
- 棹させば
- 流される
- 。
- 意地
- を
- 通せば
- 窮屈
- だ
- 。
にParticleThe point of arrival: a place, a moment, a destination.
In practice
Spot which of the three rules you — and give the other two the floor.