Politesse: el artista japonés

Se dice que Hokusai dijo una vez:

From the age of five I have had a mania for sketching the forms of things.
From about the age of fifty I produced a number of designs, yet of all I drew prior to the age of seventy there is truly nothing of great note.
At the age of seventy-two I finally apprehended something of the true quality of birds, animals, insects, fish and of the vital nature of grasses and trees.
Therefore, at eighty I shall have made some progress, at ninety I shall have penetrated even further the deeper meaning of things, at one hundred I shall have become truly marvelous, and at one hundred and ten, each dot, each line shall surely possess a life of its own.
I only beg that gentlemen of sufficiently long life take care to note the truth of my words.