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Top 25 Kōbō Abe Quotes (2025 Update)

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Loneliness was an unsatisfied thirst for illusion.”

1. “Loneliness was an unsatisfied thirst for illusion.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Without the threat of punishment, there is no joy in flight.”

2. “Without the threat of punishment, there is no joy in flight.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Defeat begins with the fear that one has lost.”

3. “Defeat begins with the fear that one has lost.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Nature with her wealth of birds and flowers, Has in her heart a place for every weed; For her quick eyes require no microscope To note the varied wonders and delights That the Creator’s humblest works possess.”

4. “Nature with her wealth of birds and flowers, Has in her heart a place for every weed; For her quick eyes require no microscope To note the varied wonders and delights That the Creator’s humblest works possess.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?”

5. “Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Green makes me think of silence, or maybe it’s loneliness. I get the feeling of a terribly distant star.”

6. “Green makes me think of silence, or maybe it’s loneliness. I get the feeling of a terribly distant star.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “It’s a dangerous dog that doesn’t bark.”

7. “It’s a dangerous dog that doesn’t bark.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “The most frightening thing in the world is to discover the abnormal in that which is closest to us.”

8. “The most frightening thing in the world is to discover the abnormal in that which is closest to us.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Year after year students tumble along like the waters of a river. They flow away, and only the teacher is left behind, like some deeply buried rock at the bottom of the current.”

9. “Year after year students tumble along like the waters of a river. They flow away, and only the teacher is left behind, like some deeply buried rock at the bottom of the current.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “But for some reason I have not yet become a fish. – The Box Man, p.36.”

10. “But for some reason I have not yet become a fish. – The Box Man, p.36.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Now that you are dead, you are splendid. Photographs of people who have just died are worth twenty percent more, and for suicides there is an additional five percent. Now that you are dead you are much in demand.”

11. “Now that you are dead, you are splendid. Photographs of people who have just died are worth twenty percent more, and for suicides there is an additional five percent. Now that you are dead you are much in demand.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Work seemed something fundamental for man, something which enabled him to endure the aimless flight of time.”

12. “Work seemed something fundamental for man, something which enabled him to endure the aimless flight of time.”

13. “When I was young, I could bounce back from things like a brand-new rubber ball.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “The thorn of death falls from heaven, and its myriad forms leave us no room to move.”

14. “The thorn of death falls from heaven, and its myriad forms leave us no room to move.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Things have value Because somebody buys them, Because somebody pays money; If you can find a buyer, Even a lie is worth a thousand yen.”

15. “Things have value Because somebody buys them, Because somebody pays money; If you can find a buyer, Even a lie is worth a thousand yen.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “People like me who lack something are liable to become spiteful critics.”

16. “People like me who lack something are liable to become spiteful critics.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Some people, when they’re called before the police, like nothing better than to spill everything, fact and fiction alike, hoping to create a good impression.”

17. “Some people, when they’re called before the police, like nothing better than to spill everything, fact and fiction alike, hoping to create a good impression.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Mankind, which has always been a part of nature, has reached a point where it is too much for nature to accommodate.”

18. “Mankind, which has always been a part of nature, has reached a point where it is too much for nature to accommodate.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “The minute you begin to have doubts, the floor under your feet starts to shake.”

19. “The minute you begin to have doubts, the floor under your feet starts to shake.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Still, the one who best understands the significance of light is not the electrician, not the painter, not the photographer, but the man who lost his sight in adulthood. There must be the wisdom of deficiency in deficiency, just as there is the wisdom of plenty in plenty.”

20. “Still, the one who best understands the significance of light is not the electrician, not the painter, not the photographer, but the man who lost his sight in adulthood. There must be the wisdom of deficiency in deficiency, just as there is the wisdom of plenty in plenty.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Time cannot be spurred on like a horse.”

21. “Time cannot be spurred on like a horse.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Far happier he, who, young and full of pride And radiant with the glory of the sun, Leaves earth before his singing time is done. All wounds of Time the graveyard flowers hide, His beauty lives, as fresh as when he died.”

22. “Far happier he, who, young and full of pride And radiant with the glory of the sun, Leaves earth before his singing time is done. All wounds of Time the graveyard flowers hide, His beauty lives, as fresh as when he died.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Something whose connection with human experience we cannot grasp is bound to be frightening.”

23. “Something whose connection with human experience we cannot grasp is bound to be frightening.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Yet there seemed to be some truth in the law of probability, according to which the chance of success is directly proportionate to the number of repetitions.”

24. “Yet there seemed to be some truth in the law of probability, according to which the chance of success is directly proportionate to the number of repetitions.”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “And again, the dark street. The dark, dark street. The women out shopping for the evening meal of course, and baby carriage and the silver bicycle were already painted out by the darkness; most of the commuters too were already in place in their filing-drawer houses. A half-forsaken chasm of time...”

25. “And again, the dark street. The dark, dark street. The women out shopping for the evening meal of course, and baby carriage and the silver bicycle were already painted out by the darkness; most of the commuters too were already in place in their filing-drawer houses. A half-forsaken chasm of time...”

Kōbō Abe Quote: “Perhaps the act of writing is necessary when nothing happens.”

26. “Perhaps the act of writing is necessary when nothing happens.”

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