智に働くと角が立ち、情に棹させば流され、意地を通すと窮屈になるということ

'Grass Pillow' (Kusamakura) is a preeminent artistic novel of modern Japanese literature written by Natsume Soseki in the Meiji period, beginning with the highly famous opening lines: 'Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along the stream of emotion, and you are swept away. Assert your will, and you are constrained. In any case, this human world is a difficult place to live.' The protagonist, a traveling artist, climbs a mountain path to escape the hassles of this difficult secular world and play in the aesthetic realm of 'non-human sentiment' (hi-ninjo) amidst nature.