Murasaki Shikibu (c. 11th century)
“It is tales that contain the truly rewarding particulars!…Not that tales accurately describe any particular person, rather, the telling begins when all those things the teller longs to have pass on to future generations—whatever there is about the way people live their lives, for better or worse, that is a sight to see or a wonder to hear—overflow the teller’s heart.”
- From Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji (chapter 25), translated by Royall Tyler (Penguin Classics, 2003).
