Murasaki Shikibu — "Men are strange creatures—they pretend to be serious but are ruled by their desi…"

"I wish I could be more like the moon—aloof and untroubled."

"It is very easy to criticize others but far more difficult to put one's own principles into practice, and it is when one forgets this truth, lauds oneself to the skies, treats everyone else as worthle…"

"A night of endless dreams, inconsequent and wild, is this my life; none more worth telling than the rest."

"I write because if I didn’t, my heart would burst."

"Well, we never expected this!' they all say. 'No one liked her. They all said she was pretentious, awkward, difficult to approach, prickly, too fond of her tales, haughty, prone to versifying, disdain…"