Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro
Takashi Shimura in Ikiru (1952)

Yûnosuke Itô: Novelist

Ikiru

Yûnosuke Itô credited as playing...

Novelist

Photos4

View Poster
View Poster
View Poster
View Poster

Quotes10

  • Novelist: How tragic that man can never realize how beautiful life is until he is face to face with death.
  • Novelist: Misfortune teaches us the truth. Your cancer has opened your eyes to your own life. People are fickle and shallow. We only realize how beautiful life is when we face death. And even then, few of us realize it. The worst among us know nothing of life until they die.
  • Novelist: Come on. Let's go reclaim the life you've wasted. Tonight it will be my pleasure to act as your Mephistopheles, but a beneficent one who won't ask for your soul.
  • Novelist: Drinking when you have stomach cancer is suicide.
  • Kanji: The thing is - I can't go through with it. "Go ahead and kill yourself," I think. And yet - I just can't do it. I mean - I can't bring myself to make it final.
  • Novelist: Ecce homo. "Behold the man." This man bears a cross called cancer. He's Christ. If you were diagnosed with cancer, you'd start dying right away. But not this fellow. That's when he started living.
  • Novelist: It's fascinating. I realize it's rude to call you fascinating, but you're an extremely rare individual. I'm just a slacker who writes second-rate fiction. You've really started me thinking. They say there's something noble about suffering and it's true.
  • Novelist: You're amazing! Rebelling against your past self at this age! That rebellious spirit moves me. You were a slave to your own life. Now you'll become its master. It's our human duty to enjoy life. Wasting it is desecrating God's great gift.
  • Novelist: 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.
  • Kanji: It's just that I've been such a fool. I'm just so mad at myself. Until a few days ago I had never even bought myself a drink. It's only now that I don't know how much longer I have to live that I've finally begun.
  • Novelist: I understand. I understand. But drinking now is plain crazy. Besides, does it even taste good?
  • Kanji: No, it doesn't. But for a little while I can forget my cancer and all the other painful things.
  • Novelist: That's not art. A striptease isn't art. It's too direct. It's more direct than art. That woman's body up there? It's a big juicy steak. It's a glass of gin. It's a hormone extract. Streptomycin. Uranium!

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb app
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb app
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb app
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.