Kenko

2001-06-08

The following quotations are from "Essays in Idleness" (Kenko, c. 1283-1352):

"If there is no advantage in changing a thing it is better not to change it." (#127)

"It is a pleasant thing when a person comes without business and leaves after a quiet talk. Joyful, too, to get a letter just asking how you are, after a long silence." (#170)

"It is always better to be simple and uninteresting than to be interesting but affected." (#231)

But:

"Somehow there is always a charm about even the most impromptu and careless sayings of the men of bygone days." (#14)

Kenko can generally be counted upon to say pretty things when provoked. (Essay #191 is "I think it a pity to hear a man say that things do not look their best at night. ... Good-looking people look even better at night by lamplight; and it is pleasant to hear the voices of people talking guardedly in the dark. Perfumes and music, too, are most pleasing at night-time.")

Another tremendous book is Abelard's The Story of My Misfortunes. (This is the Abelard of Abelard and Heloise (Heloise link a better, shorter, summary)--basically, Abelard shagged Heloise, and then got castrated for it.) Abelard's this 12th Century genius French philosopher who battles his way through life troubled by not a skerrick of self-doubt. From the Foreword, a note to the reader: "in comparing your sorrows with mine, you may discover that yours are in truth nought"--not only is he smarter everyone else, but his misfortunes are the greater too.

There is an on-line version, but a printed version is probably better. [Update! I love this book so much that I produced some nicely-formatted versions.)

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