Sayuri Nitta: I am not worthless.
Narrator (Old Sayuri): It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for a Geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings, she entertains you... What ever you want... the rest is shadows, the rest is secret.
Sayuri Narration: At the temple, there is a poem called "Loss" carved into the stone. It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out. You cannot read Loss, only feel it.
Chairman: Please, Sayuri, do not be afraid to look at me.
Mameha: We do not become Geisha to pursue our own destinies. We become Geisha because we have no other choice.
Sayuri Narration: The heart dies a slow death. Shedding each hope like leaves, until one day there are none. No hopes. Nothing remains.
Chairman: None of us find as much happiness in this life as we should.
Hatsumomo: I was a maiko once.
Sayuri Nitta: Oh, of course. But that was a long, long, long, long time ago.
Chairman: Kindness we receive in our lives is not always enough.
Mameha: I'm wonder why Mrs. Nitta has not adopted Hatsumomo?
Sayuri Nitta: That would be like releasing the tiger from its cage.
Sayuri Narration: A story like mine should never be told. For my world is as forbidden as it is fragile. Without its mysteries it cannot survive. I certainly wasn't born to the life of a geisha. Like so much in my strange life, I was carried there by the current.
