Ikiru (1952) quotes

Director
Akira Kurosawa.

Cast
Takashi Shimura.
Nobuo Kaneko.
Shin’ichi Himori.

A bureaucrat tries to find a meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.

I can’t afford to hate people. I don’t have that kind of time.
– Kanji

How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death.
– Novelist

I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my life all these years.
– Kanji

That’s Dad’s mentality. Typical petty bureaucrat.
– Mitsuo Watanabe, Kanji’s son

How beautiful! Truly beautiful. A sunset. I don’t think I’ve really looked at one in 30 years.
– Kanji

Drinking this expensive sake is like paying myself back with poison for the way I lived all these years.
– Kanji

What would you do if you only had six months left to live?
– Doctor

Stop making that face. Enough about your dad. He has his life. We have ours.
– Kazue Watanabe, Mitsuo’s wife

What have I been living for all these years?
– Kanji

Now I remember: I nearly drowned in a pond once when I was a child. I felt exactly the same way then. Everything’s going black. I writhe and thrash around, but there’s nothing to hold on to – except you.
– Kanji
What about your son?
– Toyo
Don’t talk to me about him! I have no son. I’m all alone.
– Kanji
But…
Toyo
No, you don’t understand! My son is somewhere far away. Just as my mom and pop were when I was drowning in that pond. Remembering it now, it’s even more painful than it was then.
– Kanji

After 30 years without an absence, you deserve at least six months off.
– Toyo

Dying is very difficult.
– Kanji

With a young mistress, the hormonal effect can temporarily rejuvenate an old man. Happens all the time.
– Kiichi Watanabe, Kanji’s Brother

We have to be greedy for life. They say greed is a vice, but that’s outdated. Greed is a virtue, especially greed for enjoying life.
– Novelist