# Quote — Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji

> One ought not to be unkind to a woman merely on account of her plainness, any more than one had a right to take liberties with her merely because she was handsome.

- Author: [Murasaki Shikibu](https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu.md)
- Book: [The Tale of Genji](https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murasaki_Shikibu#The_Tale_of_Genji,_trans._Arthur_Waley) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji/one-ought-not

## More from this book

> Think not that I have come in quest of common flowers; but rather to bemoan the loss of one whose scent has vanished from the air.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji/think-not-that.md)

> You that in far-off countries of the sky can dwell secure, look back upon me here; for I am weary of this frail world's decay.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji/you-that-in-far-off.md)

> Though the snow-drifts of Yoshino were heaped across his path, doubt not that whither his heart is set, his footsteps shall tread out their way.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/murasaki-shikibu/the-tale-of-genji/though-the-snow-drifts.md)