"One of the cardinal concepts of Oriental thought, from even before the time of Confucius, has been the belief that alternating, diametrically opposed forces govern the universe, like day and night. [...] Such was the case with young Okakura, for in the very heart of Westernization, at the Tokyo Imperial University, he learned to value his own culture by studying under the remarkable Ernest Fenollosa." (Introduction, vii)

"[Okakura] was a strange mixture of brilliance and infantilism, penetrating vision and the most ostrich-like reaction. He was a man with a mission, and he suffered from the contradictions that often constitute missionaries." (Introduction, xi-xii)

"[Teaism] is the noble secret of laughing at yourself, calmly yet thoroughly, and is thus humor itself - the smile of philosophy." (7)

"The heaven of modern humanity is indeed shattered in the Cyclopean struggle for wealth and power. The world is groping in the shadow of egotism...