Mizoguchi Quotes in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

Mizoguchi: [stuttering] It was as s-small as this, but grew so big... it filled the world like... tremendous music. That's the p-p-power of beauty's eternity. It poisons us. It blocks out our lives.

Mariko: Please, enough of your pride! Beauty is like a rotten tooth. It rubs against your tongue, hurting, insisting on its importance. Finally you go to a dentist and have it pulled. Then you look at the small bloody tooth in your hand and say, "Is that all it was?" That's the way it is.