Totto-chan Quotes

“Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Drying her eyes, Mother said to Totto-chan very slowly, "You're Japanese and Masao-chan comes from a country called Korea. But he's a child, just like you. So, Totto-chan, dear, don't ever think of people as different. Don't think, 'That person's a Japanese, or this person's a Korean.' Be nice to Masao-chan. It's so sad that some people think other people aren't nice just because they're Koreans.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Down through the ages and in the whole world, Watt and Newton cannot have been the only ones to notice the steam from a boiling kettle or observe an apple fall. Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“He wanted to teach the children that all bodies are beautiful.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“But there’s no doubt that children have an innate sense of humor. No matter how young they are, they always know when something’s really funny.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“children could be taught to hear and feel music in their minds rather than just with their ears; how to make them feel music as a thing of movement rather than a dull, lifeless subject; how to awaken a child’s sensitivity.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Punya mata, tapi tidak melihat keindahan; punya telinga, tapi tidak mendengar musik; punya pikiran, tapi tidak memahami kebenaran; punya hati tapi hati itu tak pernah tergerak dan karena itu tidak pernah terbakar. Itulah hal-hal yang harus ditakuti, kata Kepala Sekolah.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Đứa trẻ nào sinh ra cũng có phẩm chất tốt. Cùng với sự trưởng thành những phẩm chất đó bị phá hỏng bởi môi trường xung quanh và ảnh hưởng của người lớn. Vì vậy, phải sớm tìm ra “phẩm chất tốt” ở đứa trẻ, phát triển những phẩm chất đó, giúp đứa trẻ trở thành một người có cá tính.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“She was always doing things like that & hurting herself, but the headmaster never sent for Mother & Daddy. It was the same with the other children. Matters were always settled between the headmaster & the child concerned. Just as he had listened to Totto-Chan for four hours the day she first arrived at the school, he always listened to what a child had to say about an incident caused. He even listened to their excuses. And if the child had done something really bad & eventually recognized it was wrong, the headmaster would say, "Now apologize.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“That's splendid. That will do. You got up this morning. You've made everyone understand that. You don't have to be amusing or make people laugh to be a good speaker. The important thing is that you said you hadn't anything to talk about & you did find something to say.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Besides that, he thought it was essential for them to learn how to get up in front of people & express their ideas clearly & freely without being embarrassed, so he decided to put his theory into practice.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Schools normally schedule one subject, for example, Japanese, the first period, when you just do Japanese; then, say, arithmetic the second period, when you just do arithmetic. But here it was quite different. At the beginning of the first period, the teacher made a list of all the problems and questions in the subjects to be studied that day. Then she would say, “Now, start with any of these you like.” […] This method of teaching enabled the teachers to observe - as the children progressed to higher grades - what they were interested in as well as their way of thinking and their character. It was an ideal way of teachers to really get to know their pupils.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“You might wonder why the headmaster allowed the children to swim naked. There were no rules about it. If you brought your suit and wanted to wear it, that was perfectly all right. On the other hand, like today, when you suddenly decided to go in and hadn’t a suit, that was perfectly all right, too. And why did he let them swim in the nude? Because he thought it wasn’t right for boys and girls to be morbidly curious about the differences in their bodies, and he thought it was unnatural for people to take such pains to hide their bodies from each other.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Little did the children realize then that these walks - a time of freedom and play for them - were in reality precious lessons in science, history and biology.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“[…] this headmaster asked parents to include in their children’s lunch boxes “something from the ocean and something from the hills.” “Something from the ocean meant sea food - things such as fish and tsukuda-ni (tiny crustaceans and the like boiled in soy sauce and sweet sake), while "something from the hills” meant food from the land - like vegetables, beef, pork and chicken. Mother was very impressed by this and thought that few headmasters were capable of expressing such an important rule so simply. Oddly enough, just having to choose from two categories made preparing lunch seem simpler. And besides, the headmaster pointed out that one did not have to think hard or be extravagant to fulfil the two requirements.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“He wanted to teach the children that all bodies are beautiful. Among the pupils at Tomoe were some who had polio, like Yasuaki-chan, or were very small, or otherwise handicapped, and he felt if they bared their bodies and played together it would rid them feelings of shame and help to prevent them from developing an inferiority complex. As it turned out, while the handicapped children were shy at first, get soon began to enjoy themselves, and finally they got over their shyness completely.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“நீ உண்மையிலேயே நல்ல பெண்; உனக்குத் தெரியுமா?”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“مدیر مدرسه می‌گفت از داشتن چشم اما ندیدن زیبایی، داشتن گوش اما نشنیدن موسیقی، داشتن عقل اما آگاه نشدن از حقیقت، داشتن قلبی که هرگز نتپیده پس هرگز نسوخته، باید ترسید.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... مادر گفت: «فکر می‌کنم که قبلا یک بار به تو گفتم هنگامی که چیزی را می‌بینی که فریبنده به نظر می‌رسد، بلافاصله روی آن نپر، قبل از پریدن نگاه کن.»

«قبلا یک بار» که مادر به آن اشاره می‌کرد، در مدرسه هنگام ناهار اتفاق افتاد. هنگامی که در راه باریک پشت سالن اجتماعات قدم می‌زد، روزنامه‌ای را وسط راه دید، با این فکر هیجان‌انگیز که می‌تواند روی روزنامه بپرد یا نه، چند قدم به عقب رفت، کمی لی‌لی کرد، وسط روزنامه را هدف قرار داد، با سرعت زیادی به سوی آن دوید و روی آن پرید. اما روزنامه را مستخدم به عنوان یک پوشش موقت برای چاه فاضلاب استفاده کرده بود. او برای انجام کاری بیرون رفته و چون درپوش سیمانی را کنار زده بود، برای جلوگیری از خروج بو، روزنامه‌ای را وسط چاه فاضلاب قرار داده بود. توتوچان با یک «شلپ» بلند درست وسط چاه فاضلاب افتاد. واقعا اتفاق وحشتاکی بود. اما خوش‌بختانه او را تمیز کردند. ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... توتوچان هنوز نمی‌فهمید این موضوع برای یاسوآکی‌چان که نمی‌توانست از خانه خیلی دور شود چه‌قدر باارزش است که بتواند همه چیزها را در خانه تماشا کند. او ساده‌لوحانه از خودش می‌پرسید چگونه کشتی‌گیران سومو می‌توانند در خانه شما درون یک جعبه بروند. آن‌ها خیلی بزرگ بودند! اما این مجذوب‌کننده بود. در آن روزها کسی نمی‌دانست تلویزیون چیست. یاسوآکی‌چان اولین کسی بود که در این‌باره با توتوچان صحبت کرد. ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... بعضی از بچه‌ها در حالی که در چادرهای‌شان دراز کشیده بودند، فقط سرشان پیدا بود، بعضی مرتب نشسته بودند و بعضی دیگر دراز کشیده بودند و سرشان روی پای بچه‌های بزرگ‌تر بود. اما همه آن‌ها به داستان‌های مدیر مدرسه درباره کشورهای خارجی که آن‌ها هرگز ندیده بودند و گاهی حتی نشنیده بودند، گوش می‌کردند. داستان‌های او خیلی جذاب بود و آن‌ها احساس می‌کردند انگار بچه‌های آن سوی دریا که درباره‌شان صحبت می‌شد، دوستان‌شان بودند. ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... به جای کلام معمول «فرزندان خود را عادت دهید که همه‌چیز بخورند» یا «لطفا دقت کنید که آن‌ها یک ناهار مغذی متوازن بیاورند»، مدیر از والدین خواسته بود تا در ظرف غذای بچه‌های‌شان «چیزی از اقیانوس و چیزی از تپه‌ها» بگذارند.

«چیزی از اقیانوس» یعنی غذای دریایی -چیزهایی مثل ماهی، خرچنگ یا چیزهایی از این قبیل (پخته‌شده در سس سویا و ساکه [(عرقی که از برنج می‌گیرند و در پخت‌وپز هم کاربرد دارد)] شیرین) و «چیزی از تپه‌ها» یعنی غذای زمینی -مثل سبزیجات، غذاهای گوشتی و... ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... مدیر مدرسه یک صندلی به او تعارف کرد و رو به مادر گفت: «شما می‌توانید به خانه بروید، من می‌خواهم با دخترتان صحبت کنم.»

توتوچان یک لحظه اضطراب داشت، اما هرجور بود توانست با آن به خوبی کنار بیاید.

مادر با شجاعت گفت: «خوب، پس من او را با شما تنها می‌گذارم.» و پس از این‌که بیرون رفت، در را پشت سرش بست.

مدیر مدرسه یک صندلی جلو کشید و روبه‌روی توتوچان قرار داد و پس از این‌که هر دو نزدیک هم نشستند، گفت: «حالا همه‌چیز را درباره خودت برایم بگو، از هر چیزی که می‌خواهی صحبت کن.»

«هرچه دوست دارم؟» ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“... هنگامی که معلم به جلو متمایل شد، مادر خود را عقب کشید: «هنگامی که با میزتحریرش سروصدا نمی‌کند، از جایش بلند می‌شود؛ در تمام مدت کلاس!»

مادر تعجب‌زده پرسید: «بلند می‌شود؟ کجا؟!»

معلم با بی‌حوصلگی پاسخ داد: «پشت پنجره.»

مادر در حالی که گیج شده بود پرسید: «چرا پشت پنجره می‌ایستد؟!‍»

معلم تقریبا جیغ زد: «برای این‌که بتواند ارکسترهای خیابانی را به داخل دعوت کند.» ...”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“سوساکو کوبایاشی: «همه شما یکی هستید، می‌دانید؟ هر کاری که بکنید در این دنیا همه با هم هستید!»”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“மெல்லு, மெல்லு, அதை நன்றாக மெல்லு.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“கடலிலிருந்து கொஞ்சம், மலைகளிலிருந்து கொஞ்சம்.”
― Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window

“Có mắt mà không nhìn thấy vẻ đẹp, có tai mà không thấy điều hay, có trái tim mà không thấy chân lý, chưa cảm kích thì chưa thể cháy hết mình.”
― Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, Toto-chan Bên Cửa Sổ