Wonderful quotes and sayings

You might even find your motto—short phrases that leave a lasting impression.

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 from great and famous people can linger in our hearts, even if they’re just a single phrase.

Those who have achieved something or who keep taking on challenges each have their own convictions and resolve, and even their briefest words carry power.

This time, I’ve put together a list of such memorable quotes.

They’re all the kind of sayings you’ll want to etch into your heart and remember.

Since they’re short, they’re perfect as personal mottos—so don’t miss them!

Jot them down so you can recall them right away.

You might even find a personal motto? Short, memorable phrases (41–50)

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.

Raise the rankinglower

Report a problem

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?

Raise the rankinglower

Report a problem

We need to make an effort to avert our eyes from misfortune.Kazlaser

Kazlaser’s quote from “Kazlaser Clinic” is getting an incredible reaction on Twitter!!

We need to make an effort to avert our eyes from misfortune. — Kazlaser

Even though there are surely more enjoyable things out there, when our hearts are worn down, we humans tend to fixate only on unpleasant things.

For example, even if it’s your birthday and you should be excited, if an annoying boss makes some trivial comment, you end up thinking about that and nothing else.

Kazlaser says that if you want to live happily, you need to shut out the bad stuff yourself—it takes effort.

Why not start by deleting negative words from within yourself?

Raise the rankinglower

Taki no namida pin ku

Report a problem

It wasn’t by chance that we made it back alive. This is our mission.Sandwich Man

These are words from Sandwichman, a comedy duo from Sendai, that express a determination to keep moving forward.

The key point is that at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, they happened to be in Kesennuma, Miyagi—one of the disaster areas—while filming a TV show.

They convey what it means that they survived: being alive in that place was both fate and a mission, and they believe they are called to walk forward and pass on the story to the future.

You can feel their love for their hometown and their resolve to carry it on their shoulders as they move ahead.

Raise the rankinglower

Report a problem

Once you’ve chosen a path, never give up.Katharine Hepburn

Katherine Hepburn, an American actor also known for winning four Oscars.

Her famous quote, “Once you choose a path, never give up,” conveys the way of life of someone who achieved great things.

Whether the choice was entirely your own or not, the message of pressing forward on the path you’ve chosen expresses a resolve that can serve as a guide for living in any era.

It’s an energizing quote that also makes a great personal motto.

Raise the rankinglower

Hoshino Takashi

Report a problem