Haruki Murakami, 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 Quotes

Thinking about spaghetti that boils eternally but is never done is a sad, sad thing.

There's no war that will end all wars.

Each individual has their own unique color, which shines faintly around the contours of their body. Like a halo. Or a backlight. I'm able to see those colors clearly.

When microorganisms die, they make oil; when huge timbers fall, they make coal. But everything here was pure, unadulterated rubbish that didn't make anything. Where does a busted videodeck get you?

We were, the two of us, still fragmentary beings, just beginning to sense the presence of an unexpected, to be-aquired reality that would fill us and make us whole.

Mental acuity was never born from comfortable circumstances.

Constipation was one of the things she hated most in the world, on par with despicable men who commit domestic violence and narrow-minded religious fundamentalists.

Strong and independent? I’m neither. I’m just being pushed along by reality, whether I like it or not.

Each person feels pain in his own way, each has his own scars.

I am nothing. I’m like someone who’s been thrown into the ocean at night, floating all alone. I reach out, but no one is there. I call out, but no one answers. I have no connection to anything.

Her smile steps offstage for a moment, then does an encore, all while I'm dealing with my blushing face.

There are many things we only see clearly in retrospect.

I'm a coward when it comes to matters of the heart. That is my fatal flaw.

A friend to kill time is a friend sublime.

If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings.

There had to be something wrong with my life. I should have been born a Yugoslavian shepherd who looked up at the Big Dipper every night.

No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.

Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with.

I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.

Don't tell me anymore. You should have your dream, as the old woman told you to. I understand how you feel, but if you put those feelings into words they will turn into lies. (from Thailand)

The better you were able to imagine what you wanted to imagine, the farther you could flee from reality.

Loving another person is a wonderful thing, and if that love is sincere, no one ends up tossed into a labyrinth. You have to have more faith in yourself.

Most young people were getting jobs in big companies, becoming company men. I wanted to be individual.

Judging the mistakes of strangers is an easy thing to do - and it feels pretty good.

If you want everything to be nice and straight all the time, then go live in a world made with a triungular ruler.

There has to be pain. That's the rule.

We heard no other sounds. We met no other people. We saw only two bright red birds leap startled from the center of the meadow and dart into the woods.

They were each like a mirror for the other, reflecting the changes in themselves.

Gazing at the rain, I consider what it means to belong, to become part of something. To have someone cry for me.

The silence grew deeper, so deep that if you listened carefully you might very well catch the sound of the earth revolving on its axis.

If you never noticed, it never happened.

What the world needs is a set villain that people can point at and say, “It’s all your fault!

Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off.

That's how people live in the real world: forcing stuff on each other.

It is not that the meaning cannot be explained. But there are certain meanings that are lost forever the moment they are explained in words.

It's easy to forget things you don't need anymore.

Death leaves cans of shaving cream half-used.

Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.

Everytime you see a flood like that on the news you tell yourself: That's it. That's my heart.

I have no idea! I have been writing for 35 years and from the beginning up to now the situation's almost the same. I'm kind of an ugly duckling. Always the duckling, never the swan.

Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.

Everybody thinks I'm this delicate little girl. But you can't tell a book by it's cover.' To which she added a momentary smile.

I am a flawed human being - a far more flawed human being than you realize.

The fresh smell of coffee soon wafted through the apartment, the smell that separates night from day.

I'm kind of a low-key guy. The spotlight doesn't suit me. I'm more of a side dish--cole slaw or French fries or a Wham! backup singer.

It’s pretty thin, the wall separating healthy confidence and unhealthy Pride.

We never choose anything at all. Things happen. Or not.

I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it's a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.

If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Spending plenty of time on something can be the most sophisticated form of revenge.