Quotes from Haruki Murakami

I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.

I noticed for the first time that his expression was completely changed - strangely expressionless, eyes out of focus. He seemed to be staring into a void.

There are people who drive luxury cars, but have only second- or third-rate sofas in their homes. I put little trust in such people.

No me queda más remedio que ser paciente, deshacer los nudos y volver a conectar cada hilo. Recomponer la situación. ¿Por dónde empiezo? No encuentro el punto de partida. Estoy anclado al pie de un alto muro. La pared que me rodea es resbaladiza como la superficie de un espejo. No hay nada a lo que echar mano. Nada a lo que agarrarse. Estoy perdido

Pero como siempre, las cosas nunca salen como uno desea. Es más, el mundo parecía conocer a la perfección qué era lo que él (Tengo) no deseaba

When you prick a person with a needle, red blood comes out- that's the real world.

He had that feeling he remembered from childhood when he opened a new textbook at the beginning of the term, ignorant of its contents but sensing the new knowledge to come.

Bringing my face close to the glass, I looked out at the wide expanse of ocean. The horizon seemed to be pushing up against the sky. I followed the line where the sky met the water from end to end. No human being could draw a line so beautiful, whatever ruler they might use.

For it is just as sinful from the standpoint of nature and of truth to be above oneself as to be below oneself.

Io leggevo molto i libri, è vero, ma non leggevo molti libri, perché a me piaceva leggere più volte quelli che amavo […] Leggevo e rileggevo lo stesso libro molte volte, e a volte chiudevo gli occhi e mi riempivo i polmoni del suo odore. Il semplice annusare quel libro, scorrere le dita tra le pagine, per me era la felicità»

Somewhere inside me, there was still preserved a broad, open space, untouched, for Naoko and no one else.

He was going to die soon, you knew when you saw those eyes. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest traces of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated old house from which all furniture and fixtures have been removed and which awaited now only its final demolition.

Like, if I suggested to a school friend we do something, she could say, 'Sorry, I don't have any money'. Which is something I could never say if the situation was reversed. If I said I don't have any money', it would really mean I don't have any money'. It's sad. Like, if a pretty girl says I look terrible today, I don't want to go out,' that's OK, but if an ugly girl says the same thing people laugh at her. That's what the world was like for me.

as individuals each of us is extremely isolated, while at the same time we are all linked by a prototypical memory.

Metaphysics is never more than semantic pleasantries anyway.

Yup, you're in a strange position, all right. You're in love with a girl who is no more, jealous of a boy who's gone forever. Even so, this emotion you're feeling is more real, and more intensely painful, than anything you've ever felt before. And there's no way out. No possibility of finding an exit. You've wandered into a labyrinth of time, and the biggest problem of all is that you have no desire at all to get out. Am I right?

I don't like CDs," he replies. "Why not?" "They're too shiny." Kaoru

People have lost track of me before.

The pain of having been so openly rejected was always with him. But now, like the tide, it ebbed and flowed. At times it flowed up to his feet, at other times it withdrew far away, so far away he could barely detect it.

No, hombre! No pido tanto. Lo que quiero es simple egoísmo. Un egoísmo perfecto. Por ejemplo: te digo que quiero un pastel de fresa, y entonces tú lo dejas todo y vas a comprármelo. Vuelves jadeando y me lo ofreces. «Toma, Midori. Tu pastel de fresa», me dices. Y te suelto: «¡Ya se me han quitado las ganas de comérmelo!». Y lo arrojo por la ventana. Eso es lo que yo quiero.

I'm going to swim 0.93 miles, ride a bike 24.8 miles, then run a final 6.2 miles. And what's all that supposed to prove? How is this any different from pouring water in an old pan with a tiny hole in the bottom?

In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.

He is considering aspects of the interrelationship of thought and action. Is action merely the incidental product of thought, or is thought the consequential product of action?

In other words, what we seek is some kind of compensation for what we put up with.