Top 80 Ichiro Kishimi Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 2 of 2

51. “You are not living to satisfy other people’s expectations, and neither am I. It is not necessary to satisfy other people’s expectations.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

52. “It is because they are one’s comrades that one can have confidence in them.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

53. “What you should do now is make a decision to stop your current lifestyle. For instance, earlier you said, “If only I could be someone like Y, I’d be happy.” As long as you live that way, in the realm of the possibility of “If only such and such were the case,” you will never be able to change. Because saying “If only I could be like Y” is an excuse to yourself for not changing.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

54. “But is being normal, being ordinary, really such a bad thing? Is it something inferior? Or, in truth, isn’t everybody normal?”

— Ichiro Kishimi

55. “If you think you are right, regardless of what other people’s opinions might be, the matter should be closed then and there.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

56. “One has to stand on one’s own two feet, and take one’s own steps forward with the tasks of interpersonal relations. One needs to think not, What will this person give me? but rather, What can I give to this person? That is commitment to the community.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

57. “Could you respect an immature human being? And could you have a real feeling of being respected by someone who threatens you in a violent manner? There is no respect in communication with anger and violence. Rather, such communication invites contempt. That reprimand does not lead to substantive improvement is a self-evident truth.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

58. “Children who have not been taught to confront challenges will try to avoid all challenges.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

59. “Destiny is something you create with your own two hands.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

60. “We are not determined by our experiences, but the meaning we give them is self-determining.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

61. “Look, no matter how much you want to be Y, you cannot be reborn as him. You are not Y. It’s okay for you to be you. However, I am not saying it’s fine to be ‘just as you are’. If you are unable to really feel happy, then it’s clear that things aren’t right just as they are. You’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, and not stop.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

62. “If one really has confidence in oneself, one doesn’t feel the need to boast. It’s because one’s feeling of inferiority is strong that one boasts.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

63. “But you are unhappy now because you yourself chose being unhappy. Not because you were born under an unlucky star.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

64. “In every way, violence is a low-cost, easy means of communication. But before deeming it morally unacceptable, we must say that it is a rather immature form of conduct for people to engage in.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

65. “Place value on the person being that person without pushing your own value system on them. And further, assist in their growth or unfolding. That is precisely what respect is. In the attitude of trying to manipulate or correct another person, there is no respect whatsoever.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

66. “If you end up staying in aetiology, you will be bound by the past and never be able to find happiness.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

67. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

68. “Children are not cruel – it’s just that they don’t know. They do not know what life is worth, or about other people’s pain.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

69. “That one can act on the community, that is to say, on other people, and that one can feel “I am of use to someone.” Instead of feeling judged by another person as “good,” being able to feel, by way of one’s own subjective viewpoint, that “I can make contributions to other people.” It is at that point that, at last, we can have a true sense of our own worth. Everything we have been discussing about community feeling and encouragement connects here.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

70. “Relationships in which people restrict each other eventually fall apart. Restriction... is a manifestation of the mind-set of attempting to control one’s partner, and also an idea founded on a sense of distrust.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

71. “All you can do in regard to your own life is choose the best path that you believe in.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

72. “Rather than simply playing with them, enjoy the activity yourself. If you do, the children may at last have the real feeling that they are being recognised; that they are not being treated as children; that they are being given respect as individual human beings.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

73. “One needs to think not What will this person give me? but, rather, What can I give to this person? That is commitment to the community.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

74. “The fact that there are people who do not think well of you is proof that you are living in freedom.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

75. “Being self-centred does not mean looking only at oneself because one likes oneself. In actuality, the opposite is the case, and it is because one is unable to accept oneself as one is, and because one is constantly beset with anxiety, that one has concern only for oneself.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

76. “You are probably rejecting normality because you equate being normal with being incapable. Being normal is not being incapable. One does not need to flaunt one’s superiority.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

77. “The children are not obeying you, they are only submitting to authority. They do not entertain the slightest thought of understanding you. They just cover their ears and shut their eyes and wait for the storm of your rage to pass.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

78. “If you lived all alone, wouldn’t you be horribly lonely? PHILOSOPHER: Oh, but being alone isn’t what makes you feel lonely. Loneliness is having other people and society and community around you, and having a deep sense of being excluded from them. To feel lonely, we need other people. That is to say, it is only in social contexts that a person becomes an ‘individual’.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

79. “But we choose our lifestyles ourselves. It’s clear where the responsibility lies.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

80. “Why is it necessary to be special? Probably because one cannot accept one’s normal self.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

81. “There will always be more ‘you and I’, and more ‘everyone’, and larger communities that exist.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

82. “We have to get past our obstinate self-centredness and stop trying to be the centre of the world. One has to break away from ‘me’. One has to break away from one’s pampered childhood lifestyle.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

83. “The birth of society is, in other words, the birth of suffering.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

84. “But if you are afraid to have confidence in others, in the long run, you will not be able to build deep relationships with anyone.”

— Ichiro Kishimi

85. “Viewed from the standpoint of the division of labour, all professions are honourable.”

— Ichiro Kishimi