“
Hopes are like hair ornaments. Girls want to wear too many of them. When they become old women they look silly wearing even one.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
You cannot say to the sun, 'More sun,' or to the rain, 'Less rain.' To a man, geisha can only be half a wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet, to learn kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find her prayers were answered, can that not be called happiness? After all these are not the memoirs of an empress, nor of a queen. These are memoirs of another kind.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
Singletons should not have to explain themselves all the time but should have an
accepted status — like geisha girls do
”
”
Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones, #1))
“
All at once I felt so vain, like a girl posturing for the crowds as she walks along, only to discover the street is empty.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
The first rule that a geisha is taught, at the age of nine, is to be charming to other women...Every girl in the world should have geisha training.
”
”
Diana Vreeland
“
Here you are...A beautiful girl with nothing to be ashamed of...And yet you are afraid to look at me. Someone has been cruel to you...Or perhaps life has been cruel.
"I don't know sir" I said, Though of course I knew perfectly well.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
Oh I'm sure you're right," Auntie said. "Probably she's just as you say. But she looks to me like a very clever girl, and adaptable; you can see that from the shape of her ears.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
As a young girl I believed my life would never have been a struggle if Mr.Tanaka hadn't torn me away from my tipsy house. But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
Every time I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass of a shop, I felt I was someone to be taken seriously; not a girl anymore, but a young woman.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
Women are always expected to be the gracious hostess, quick with an anecdote and a sprinkling of laughter at others' stories. We are always the ones who have to smooth over all the awkward moments in life with soul-crushing pleasantries. We are basically unpaid geishas. But when we do not fulfill this expectation ( because we are introverted ) people asume we must be either depressed or a cunt".
”
”
Amy Schumer (The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo)
“
I watched him walk away with sickness in my heart—though it was a pleasing kind of sickness, if such a thing exists. I mean to say that if you have experienced an evening more exciting than any in your life, you’re sad to see it end; and yet you still feel grateful that it happened. In that brief encounter with the Chairman, I had changed from a lost girl facing a lifetime of emptiness to a girl with purpose in her life. Perhaps it seems odd that a casual meeting on the street could have brought about such change. But sometimes life is like that, isn’t it? And I really do think if you’d been there to see what I saw, and feel what I felt, the same might have happened to you.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
We are for breeding purposes: we aren't concubines, geisha girls, courtesans. On the contrary: everything possible has been done to remove us from that category. There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts; no special favors are to be wheedled, by them or us, there are to be no toeholds for love. We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. So
”
”
Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1))
“
You're eighteen years old, Sayuri," she went on. "Neither you nor I can know your destiny. You may
never know it! Destiny isn't always like a party at the end of the evening. Sometimes it's nothing more
than struggling through life from day to day."
"But, Mameha-san, how cruel!"
"Yes, it is cruel," she said. "But none of us can escape destiny."
"Please, it isn't a matter of escaping my destiny, or anything of that sort. Nobu-san is a good man, just as
you say. I know I should feel nothing but gratitude for his interest, but . . . there are so many things I've
dreamed about."
"And you're afraid that once Nobu has touched you, after that they can never be? Really, Sayuri, what
did you think life as a geisha would be like? We don't become geisha so our lives will be satisfying. We
become geisha because we have no other choice."
"Oh, Mameha-san . . . please . . . have I really been so foolish to keep my hopes alive that perhaps one
day-"
"Young girls hope all sorts of foolish things, Sayuri. Hopes are like hair ornaments. Girls want to wear
too many of them. When they become old women they look silly wearing even one.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
I found myself wondering if she'd started life much as I had. It made no difference that she was a mean old woman and I was just a struggling little girl. Couldn't the wrong sort of living turn anyone mean? I remembered very well that one day back in Yoroido, a boy pushed me into a thorn bush near the pond. By the time I clawed my way out I was mad enough to bite through wood. If a few minutes of suffering could make me so angry, what would years of it do? Even stone can be worn down
with enough rain.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
When I was in the street throwing a beanbag with the other children and Mr. Tanaka happened to stroll out of the seafood company, I always stopped what I was doing to watch him.
I lay there on that slimy table while Mr. Tanaka examined my lip, pulling it down with his fingers and tipping my head this way and that. All at once he caught sight of my gray eyes, which were fixed on his face with such fascination, I couldn't pretend I hadn't been staring at him. He didn't give me a sneer, as if to say that I was an impudent girl, and he didn't look away as if it made no difference where I looked or what I thought. We stared at each other for a long moment-so long it gave me a chill even there in the muggy air of the seafood company.
"I know you," he said at last. "You're old Sakamoto's little girl."
Even as a child I could tell that Mr. Tanaka saw the world around him as it really was; he never wore the dazed look of my father. To me, he seemed to see the sap bleeding from the trunks of the pine trees, and the circle of brightness in the sky where the sun was smothered by clouds. He lived in the world that was visible, even if it didn't always please him to be there. I knew he noticed the trees, and the mud, and the children in the street, but I had no reason to believe he'd ever noticed me.
Perhaps this is why when he spoke to me, tears came stinging to my eyes.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the Commanders. We are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans. On the contrary: everything possible has been done to remove us from that category. There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts; no special favors are to be wheedled, by them or us, there are to be no toeholds for love. We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. So why does he want to see me, at night, alone? If I’m caught, it’s to Serena’s tender mercies I’ll be
”
”
Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale)
“
You and your dyke music, Erica remarked once. I hadn’t thought of them as dykes, my beloved Indigo Girls, my Michelle Shocked, Dar Williams, Shawn Colvin, Le Tigre, my Ani DiFranco. I just knew that at those shows I was whole and right. I was a person. I mattered. I was in fact not stupid or fat or ugly or lame; I was smart and valid and right and well. I had a fucking voice. The women at those shows weren’t gussied up like geishas. They talked of art, life, politics. They felt entitled to feelings and opinions and rage and poetry and laughter and tears and bodies. There was dissent. Looking “cute” was low on the list. Practical shoes were high. It mattered only that one articulate oneself properly
”
”
Elisa Albert (After Birth)
“
Young girls hope all sorts of foolish things, Sayuri. Hopes are like hair ornaments. Girls want to wear too many of them. When they become old women they look silly wearing even one.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
At home, sleeping," said Kurota, unfazed. "She was a magazine editor until we got married. Then she said, 'I can't be bothered to work anymore.' That's the way it is with Japanese wives. She stays home, has children, and brings them up. Her world is very narrow - the PTA and the parents of our children's friends; that's about it. I go out and enjoy myself, then get home late and wake her up and she gets angry. She says, 'Why did you wake me up?' and goes back to sleep. In the West, people go to the pub for a drink, then go home, get changed, and go out with their wives. But we Japanese can't do that, our homes are too far away. "That's why we have geisha," said his friend, butting in. "Ordinary girls are good at having babies and bringing up children. But geisha are good at chatting. You see old geisha here ...
”
”
Lesley Downer (Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha)
“
Rub A Dub Dub
You're me one and only to soak in a hot tub with
You're me one and only, me tart green Granny Smith.
I will tie me hands behind me back and a bobbin' I will go
'Til me jaw is slack and weary, 'neath the hot tub's tidal flow.
Seems all this bobbin's caused a tsunami,
Me hot tub's in a twirl and swirl
And as I go me third time under, I dream...
Of bitin' the neck of me Geisha girl.
”
”
Beryl Dov
“
traditional weapons of the samurai Dim Mak Death Touch doku poison dōshin Edo-period police officers of samurai origin (low rank) endan ninja smoke bombs fugu blowfish or puffer fish Fuma Wind Demons gaijin foreigner, outsider (derogatory term) geisha a Japanese girl trained to entertain men with conversation, dance and song haiku Japanese short poem hamon artistic pattern created on a samurai sword blade during tempering process hashi chopsticks horagai conch-shell trumpet horoku a spherical bomb thrown by hand using a short rope itadakimasu let’s eat! kagemusha a Shadow Warrior kamikaze lit. ‘divine wind’, or ‘Wind of the Gods’ kanji Chinese characters that are used also by the Japanese katana long sword ki energy flow or life force (Chinese: chi) kiai literally ‘concentrated spirit’ – used in martial arts as a shout for focusing energy when executing a technique kimono traditional Japanese clothing kissaki tip of sword koban Japanese oval gold coin
”
”
Chris Bradford (The Ring of Wind (Young Samurai, #7))
“
Pumpkin was a girl who looked as if she could grow fat quickly, given the chance.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
They were also pretty fearsome fighters: trained in lightning-fast combat with staves, canes, knives, spears, swords, even their bare hands, the girls used their smaller, more lithe frames to their advantage against large male opponents. Thus prepped, kunoichi could infiltrate the homes of high-ranking men as maids, geisha, or friends in ways that no other spy could. Black Widow, eat your heart out.
”
”
Sam Maggs (Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History)
“
But really, would Yoroido seem any less exotic if I went back there again? As a young girl I believed my life would never have been a struggle if Mr. Tanaka hadn't torn me away from my tipsy house. But now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.
”
”
Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha)
“
The glossy sheen faded. One night I became convinced Yonah was broadcasting my life to Israel via the security monitors in our bedroom. I felt devastated, betrayed, and the world’s troubles draped over me like a heavy tarp. Mr. Takahara was falling into bankruptcy. Juan Carlos needed me to cleanse his body’s qi. Mrs. Sato beckoned to me with each tilt of her chin—I was a geisha girl, to join in her multicultural orgies.
”
”
Mira T. Lee (Everything Here Is Beautiful)
“
film was based on, described her as ‘not precisely a call girl,’ but an ‘authentic American geisha.
”
”
Anupama Chopra (100 Films to See before You Die)