It sounded so weird when people called shoyu "soy sauce." It made it sound like Tabasco or something instead of the clean and perfect thing that it was.

I almost never slept deeply anymore--as soon as she said my name, I always sat up immediately, no matter how tired I was.

Watch out for life ... It's harder than it looks.

For me, books are music for my mind and my imagination. When I am stuck in something I'm writing, I simply read my way out of being stuck. You can never waste time reading.

you could see the roads crisscrossing over the fields. When cars went by, far away, the beams were so bright they seemed to be ropes of light pulling the cars behind.

Here at the sea---especially at the sea---I could hear my sister’s voice in the waves: “Kira-kira! Kira-kira!

It took seven years from the day I decided I wanted to write fiction to actually getting a book published.

I love writing about people on the road.

The blue of the sky is one of the most special colors in the world, because the color is deep but see-through both at the same time.

Why would a book in which hardly anything happened for most of the time eat at me so much? It was the weirdest thing

A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.

When you aim high and you want to create a difference, all you need is a SPARK from your heart.

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

Nobody seriously believes in the social philosophies of the immediate past.

within that ageing outer shell we remain very much the same as we did in our late teens and early twenties.

There are few things as nauseating as pure obedience.

Let there be no distance between the words you say and the life you live.

Literature isn't a moral beauty contest. Its power arises from the authority and audacity with which the impersonation is pulled off; the belief it inspires is what counts.

You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.

Our men and women in our armed forces are the real heroes in this conflict.