"... the sparrow’s chirp, the crow’s caw, the willow’s green, the cherry blossom’s pink, are the truth of the Zen master and the essence of Basho's style."

"He who creates three to five haiku poems during a lifetime is a haiku poet. He who attains to completes ten is a master."

"The haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject is good. Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of."

"My body, now close to fifty years of age, has become an old tree that bears bitter peaches, a snail which has lost its shell, a bagworm separated from its bag; it drifts with the winds and clouds that know no destination. Morning and night I have eaten traveler's fare, and have held out for alms a pilgrim's wallet."

"The fact that Saigyō composed the poem that begins, "I shall be unhappy without loneliness," shows that he made loneliness his master. He also wrote: In the mountain village who are you calling, yobuko-bird? I thought you lived alone."

"Mount Fuji, towering up from the earth, supporting the firmament so high above, seems to rend open the clouds that the sun and moon might shine through. Viewed from any position, the mountain seemingly presents its finest vista, infinitely changing. The poet is at a loss for suitable verses; the scholar finds his words lacking; the painter, throwing down his brushes, scurries off. Even if by chance an immortal should descend from Mount Miǎogūyè, would he be able to compose suitable verses, or paint a faithful picture?"

"It was a rainy day when I crossed over the Hakone Barrier, and all the mountains were veiled in clouds."

"It rains during the morning. No visitors today. I feel lonely and amuse myself by writing at random. These are the words: Who mourns makes grief his master. Who drinks makes pleasure his master."

"Even if you have three or four extra syllables—or as many as five or seven—you need not worry as long as the verse sounds right."

"I feel lonely as I gaze at the moon. I feel lonely as I think about myself, and I feel lonely as I ponder upon this wretched life of mine. I want to cry out that I am lonely, but no one asks me how I feel."

"古人の跡を求めず，古人の求めしところを求めよ。 kojin no ato wo motomezu, kozjin no motometaru tokoro wo motomeyo"

"Moon almost full I'm thirty-nine a child still."

"旅に病で夢は枯野をかけ廻る tabi ni yande yume wa kareno wo kake-meguru"

"やがて死ぬけしきは見えず蝉の声 yagate shinu keshiki wa miezu semi no koe"

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home."

"行く春や鳥啼き魚の目は泪 yuku haru ya tori naki uo no me wa namida"

"夏草や兵どもが夢の跡 natsukusa ya tsuwamonodomo ga yume no ato"

"ألا فاسقِني خمراً، وقل لي: هيَ الخمرُ ولا تسقني سرّاً إذا أمكن الجهرُ"

"دَعْ عَنْكَ لَوْمِي فَإنَّ اللَّوْمَ إغْرَاءُ"

"Poured from the palm of a girl dressed as boy An intrigue for one of any orientation She lifts the carafe against the black night Her face lit with brilliant radiation Sending from the jug’s lip a stream so bright That eyes, in its glare, close as in sedation Wine so fine, so pure and delicate To add water would be contamination With light alone may it be mixed Giving off dazzling illumination"

"Say, then, to whom affects learning in philosophy Knowing one thing doesn’t comprise an education Don’t forbid others what you choose to eschew For prohibition is, in religion, desecration"

"Auspicious stars had risen on this night When drunkard assaulted drunkard We passed the time kowtowing to the Devil, Until the monks sounded the bells at dawn And [a young adolescent] left, dragging delightful robes Which I had stained with my iniquitous behavior, Saying, "O woe!" as tears overcame him, "You have torn away the [dignity] I had preserved." I replied, "A lion saw a gazelle and lunged at it; Such is the variety of Fate’s vicissitudes!""

"O Lord, even though I have committed many sins I understand that Your forgiveness... is far greater! If only those who’re pure can hope for Your mercy: whom else can one be seeking help, for the sinner? Lord, I’m humbly asking You, like You told me to: who will pity me if of my hand, You’re not a taker? There is no other way I have to You, but the hope that as a Muslim You will be You... the Forgiver!"

"He played with sacred formulae, such as the call to prayer: "Come to prayer!" is rendered, in one profane turn, "Come to sleep-together!""

"In an ebullient exchange with the Baghdadi singing-girl ‘Inan he wrote: "Gorgeous one! – God has made your face a qibla for me, /So allow me to pray toward your face, and lets have a kiss." Here "kiss" (qubla) and "the direction of prayer" (qibla) are made to rhyme, an almost inevitable rhyming couplet."

"The following complaint sets perhaps the smuttiest tone about the poet’s detainment: "al-Amin, I languish in the sodomites' prison and fear being buggered. Do you wish them to bugger your very own poet?""

"It is probably a fallacy to assume, as do some literary histories, that Abu Nuwas composed his ascetic pieces at some point towards the end of his life. Rather, he seems to have composed them throughout his career, stimulated as much by particular events and the varying demands of patronage."

"There are no poems on wine equal to my own, and to my amatory compositions all others must yield."