Takasugi Shinsaku's quote


I ran across this quote from the famous samurai Takasugi Shinsaku:
"動けば雷電の如く、発すれば風雨の如し". My (really) clumsy translation would be something like
"If thunder and lightning were to waver, water and wind would follow," but as
you can read, it sounds weird and doesn't seem to make much sense. Further I
really haven't been able to find out the context in which he said it, so I
don't think I really understand what it means. Thanks for any help!!!




> 「[動]{うご}けば[雷電]{らいでん}の[如]{ごと}く、[発]{はっ}すれば[風雨]{ふうう}の如し。」

You state that this is a quote from Takasugi, but it is **_not_**. This is how
Takasugi was metaphorically described **_by others_**.

[This
page](http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%E9%9B%B7%E7%99%BA%E3%81%99%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0)
gives a good translation of the phrase.

" ** _Moving like the lightning, speaking like the storm._** "

「発する」 means "to utter words" ⇒ "to speak"




> 「[動]{うご}けば[雷電]{らいでん}の[如]{ごと}く、[発]{はっ}すれば[風雨]{ふうう}の如し。」

You state that this is a quote from Takasugi, but it is **_not_**. This is how
Takasugi was metaphorically described **_by others_**.

[This
page](http://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%E9%9B%B7%E7%99%BA%E3%81%99%E3%82%8C%E3%81%B0)
gives a good translation of the phrase.

" ** _Moving like the lightning, speaking like the storm._** "

「発する」 means "to utter words" ⇒ "to speak"

