Kōbō Abe said this quote

Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?

~ Kōbō Abe

Defeat begins with the fear that one had lost.

~ Kōbō Abe

Just as trees bear their fruit before winter, just as bamboo grass produces its seeds just before it withers, sex is simply a struggle with death on the human level.

~ Kōbō Abe

If I were just in trousers, somehow I could go out into the world. It would make no difference whether I was naked from the waist up and my feet bare just as long as I had trousers on. Otherwise if you go walking around the streets without trousers, no matter how new your shoes and how elegant your coat, it’s enough to raise a big hue and cry. Enlightened society is a kind of trouser society.

~ Kōbō Abe