Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake Quotes
But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.
When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.
It occurred to me that if I were a ghost, this ambiance was what I'd miss most: the ordinary, day-to-day bustle of the living. Ghosts long, I'm sure, for the stupidest, most unremarkable things.
Everything in life has some good in it. And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more--it's sad, but that's the truth.
When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.
Why were we so far apart, even when we were together? It was a nice loneliness, like the sensation of washing your face in cold water.
...there's nothing wrong with being a little hopeful. Who says you can't warm your frozen limbs in the faint heat of a flicker of hope?
Nakajima’s past would always be there, so the foundation could crumble at any moment. That’s what happens, I realized, when people destroy other people.
Just being with Nakajima made me feel as if we were detached from history, and had no particular age.
I was kind of tired, I guess, of knowing people are flesh. Flesh and water.
A particular variety of loneliness, like peering deep into the darkness. It's only natural, when two separate universes touch.
My fury was lofty, pure, cool. It was an emotion that none of these people, struggling so hard to impose a shape on life when life has no shape, could begin to understand.
I didn't care whether I had gotten dressed, or what state my hair was in or anything– it didn't matter. I felt close to him, and I'd come to regard him as just another part of the scenery.
Nakajima's presence didn't put any pressure on me, either. Quite the opposite: there was a warmth in the core of my chest when he was around.