He seemed to be absorbed by what he’d just said. Then he turned to me and asked, “What do you think beauty really is?"

"Pass," I said curtly.

"There are things that come true in life, and things that don’t," he said. “The things that actually happen, people forget about them right away. But the things that never come true stay in our hearts forever. Dreams and… longings. I think it’s our feelings for these that sustain the beauty of life. All the things that didn’t happen ~have~ come true, as beauty.

Author: Kyōichi Katayama