Murakami Quotes

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.

This was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets, like an antique clock built when peace filled the world.

I'd be smiling and chatting away, and my mind would be floating around somewhere else, like a balloon with a broken string.

Nothing in the real world is as beautiful as the illusions of a person about to lose consciousness.

I go by the gut. I might not appear to have any talent but I've got plenty of gut instinct.

But I didn't understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair.

I think of rivers, of tides. Forests and water gushing out. Rain and lightning. Rocks and shadows. All of these are in me.

That's what the world is , after all: an endless battle of contrasting memories.

I guess I felt attached to my weakness. My pain and suffering too. Summer light, the smell of a breeze, the sound of cicadas - if I like these things, why should I apologize?

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

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?

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

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.

Mental acuity was never born from comfortable circumstances.

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.

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

There are many things we only see clearly in retrospect.

There's no war that will end all wars.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A friend to kill time is a friend sublime.

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

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

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

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)

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

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

If you never noticed, it never happened.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Death leaves cans of shaving cream half-used.

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

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

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.