Keep your favorite words close. A short collection of quotes that comfort the heart.

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.

Words have a mysterious power, don’t they?

In our daily lives, haven’t you ever had a moment when a phrase you happened to see resonated with you, or words given by someone dear became a source of strength?

Keeping your “favorite words” close by can gently nudge you forward when your heart is tired or clouded.

In this article, we’ll introduce short yet deeply moving quotes precisely because they are brief.

You might just find a favorite line that stays close to your heart.

Keep your favorite words close. A collection of short, heartwarming quotes (21–30)

Nature is an impartial and merciless enemy. Society is an unjust enemy with human sentiment.Soseki Natsume

Let me introduce a famous quote by Natsume Sōseki: “Nature is a fair yet ruthless enemy.

Society is an unjust yet compassionate enemy.” Natsume Sōseki was a Japanese novelist and scholar of English literature.

His major works include I Am a Cat, Botchan, Sanshirō, And Then, Kokoro, and Light and Darkness.

This line—“Nature is a fair yet ruthless enemy.

Society is an unjust yet compassionate enemy.”—appears in his work Reminiscences.

It’s a quote that encourages us not to underestimate nature and to prepare for natural disasters.

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Natural disasters strike when we least expect them.Torahiko Terada

Here is a famous and important saying by Torahiko Terada: “Natural disasters strike when they have been forgotten.” Terada was a Japanese physicist, essayist, and haiku poet.

As a researcher, he was interested in disasters such as fires and earthquakes, and it is said that after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, he became even more deeply engaged with the subject.

This quote reminds us that the peaceful passing of everyday life without incident is not something to be taken for granted.

It is a phrase worth engraving in our hearts.

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Earthquakes will strike again and again. To prevent severe damage, we will build parks and roads.Shinpei Gotō

I would like to introduce a famous quote left by Shinpei Goto: “Earthquakes will come again and again.

To prevent great damage, we must build parks and roads.” From this saying, one can sense his conviction to protect human life.

Shinpei Goto devoted himself to the reconstruction after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, making present-day Tokyo a city resilient to disasters.

Immediately after the earthquake, he became Minister of Home Affairs and then Minister for Reconstruction to rebuild Tokyo, which had suffered immense damage.

Along with the quote, he conceived reconstruction measures, but at the time he faced criticism from those around him.

It is said that enormous funds were required to put them into action, and landowners opposed the purchase of tracts that had been reduced to burned-out fields by the quake.

Although his budget was cut, Goto poured his efforts into building a disaster-resilient city.

Thanks to those efforts, Tokyo became stronger against earthquakes than it had been in the past.

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Nakajima Junko

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If you endure, you will surely become a strong person.Senichi Hoshino

These are the words of Senichi Hoshino, who excelled as a player for the Chunichi Dragons during his career and later made his mark as a manager for the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

During the Great East Japan Earthquake, he was the manager of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the team from the disaster-stricken region, and his words are remembered for inspiring many people.

He conveys that no matter what difficulties you face, you should give your all in the present and confront them head-on—that strength lies along the path you advance by doing so.

Because these are the words of Hoshino, who rebuilt teams whose results had faltered, they carry real persuasive power; they are words that lift your spirits and make you want to keep pushing forward.

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kappamaki

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What Japan gained after losing everything was hope… It planted the seeds of hope within us, who had been captivated by wealth.Ryu Murakami

I would like to share a famous quote by Ryū Murakami: “What Japan, having lost everything, gained was hope… It planted the seeds of hope within us, whose hearts had been captivated by wealth.” The Great East Japan Earthquake caused immense damage.

Many people must have spent their days in deep anxiety.

Yet it is precisely in such times that we must not forget “hope.” As the writer Ryū Murakami says, what we gain when everything is lost in a disaster is hope—the hope to live earnestly now and to dream of a brighter future.

In a Japan where everything is close at hand and life has become affluent, perhaps many of us have lost hope in exchange.

This also resonates with the story of Pandora’s box, in which hope remained at the end.

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Nakajima Junko

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Prepare pessimistically, act optimistically.Kazuo Inamori

Let me introduce a famous quote left by Kazuo Inamori: “Prepare pessimistically, act optimistically.” Kazuo Inamori was a Japanese entrepreneur and engineer.

He founded Kyocera and Daini Denden, which is now KDDI, and served as chairman of the Inamori Foundation, a public-interest incorporated foundation.

He was also honorary chairman of Japan Airlines.

In the planning stage, with a strong will that says, “No matter what, we must accomplish this,” one should reexamine the plan with a pessimistic eye; then, in the execution stage, with the confidence that “We can definitely do it,” one should carry it out optimistically—brightly and with dignity.

Doesn’t this conviction also apply to disaster preparedness?

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