Quotes from Kazuo Ishiguro

And why shouldn't they? Carers aren't machines. You try and do your best for every donor, but in the end, it wears you down. You don't have unlimited patience and energy. So when you get a chance to choose, of course, you choose your own kind. That's natural. There's no way I could have gone on for

But for another few minutes at least, we were safe, and we kept dancing under the starlit sky.

night, and besides, was ably helped by brave comrades." "The comrades he speaks of," Ivor said, "were too busy

didn't think that humans could choose loneliness.

Make no mistake about it, my child, Marie-Claude is on your side and will always be on your side. Is she afraid of you? We're all afraid of you. I myself had to fight back my dread of you all almost every day I was at Hailsham. There were times I'd look down at you all from my study window and I'd feel such revulsion . . .

She was the one always pretending to have finished anything anyone happened to be reading; and she was the only one with this notion that the way to demonstrate your superior reading was to go around telling people the plots of novels they were in the middle of.

You see it in films sometimes, when one person's pointing a gun at another person, and the one with the gun's making the other one do all kinds of things. Then suddenly there's a mistake, a tussle, and the gun's with the second person. And the second person looks at the first person with a gleam, a kind of can't-believe-my-luck expression that promises all kinds of vengeance.

It might be just some trend that came and went,' I said. 'But for us, it's our life.

Sometimes,' she said, 'at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness

and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, maybe even call.

Oh, I think they've got a friend there, someone who used to live here. That's not the point. The point is, they claim they saw this … person. Working there in this open-plan office. And, well, you know. They reckon this person's a possible. For me.

if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.

The reason they go for Tommy's because he's a layabout.

Manager, I did all I could to learn Josie and had it become necessary, I would have done my utmost. But I don't think it would have worked out so well. Not because I wouldn't have achieved accuracy. But however hard I tried, I believe now there would have remained something beyond my reach. The Mother, Rick, Melania Housekeeper, the Father. I'd never have reached what they felt for Josie in their hearts. I'm now sure of this, Manager?

pictures, poetry, all that kind of stuff, she said they revealed what you were like inside. She said they revealed your soul.

that there are people out there, like Madame, who don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you—of how you were brought into this world and why—and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs.

Spui c? sunteÈ›i singuri? SunteÈ›i siguri c? v? iubiÈ›i? De unde È™tiÈ›i asta? CredeÈ›i c? dragostea e chiar atât de simpl??

It was bad luck for poor old Tommy.

Poate toÈ›i cei de la Hailsham aveam asemenea secrete - mici cotloane de spaÈ›iu, care existau doar în mintea noastr? È™i în care ne puteam retrage cu fricile È™i dorinÈ›ele noastre.

Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and—no matter how much we despised ourselves for it—unable quite to let each other go.

Your Christian god of mercy gives men licence to pursue their greed, their lust for land and blood, knowing a few prayers and a little penance will bring forgiveness and blessing.

Your lives are set out for you. You'll become adults, then before you're old, before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs. That's what each of you was created to do. You're not like the actors you watch on your videos, you're not even like me. You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided.

N-aÈ™ putea spune c? au fost ani nefericiÈ›i - am multe amintiri dragi din timpul lor, dar au fost mult mai serioÈ™i È™i, în anumite privinÈ›e, mai întunecaÈ›i. Poate c? în mintea mea toate au c?p?tat proporÈ›ii exagerate, dar am r?mas cu sentimentul c? în acel interval de timp lucrurile au început s? se schimbe extrem de rapid, aÈ™a cum ziua se târ??te în noapte.

A fost ca la È™ah, când faci o miÈ™care È™i, chiar în clipa în care îÈ›i iei degetul de pe pies?, îÈ›i dai seama de greÈ™eala f?cut? È™i intri în panic?, fiindc? nu cunoÈ™ti înc? dimensiunea dezastrului pe care l-ai provocat f?r? s? vrei.