Quotes from Kazuo Ishiguro

And I could see the weariness in the boy AF's walk, and wondered what it might be like to have found a home and yet to know that your child didn't want you. Until I saw this pair it hadn't occurred to me that an AF could be with a child who despised him and wanted him gone, and that they could nevertheless carry on together

Why, Mr. Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?

the Sun was unwilling to make any promise about Josie, because for all his kindness, he wasn't yet able to see Josie separately from the other humans, some of whom had angered him very much on account of their Pollution and inconsideration

The way you're always willing to give people a decent chance. That's a good trait.

After all, if a community could reach some sort of an equilibrium without having to be guided by an outsider, then so much the better.

Potser algun dia tots aquests conflictes s'acabaran, i no serà pas gràcies a cap gran estadista o a cap església o a cap institució com aquesta. Serà perquè la gent haurà canviat. Seran com tu, Puffin: una barreja. ¿Per què no ho hem de voler ser, mestissos? És una cosa saludable.

I remind myself that I was lucky to have any time with him at all. What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.

for a great many people, the evening is the most enjoyable part of the day. Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day.

A 'great' butler can only be, surely, one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman – and through the latter, to serving humanity. As

People who love one another are brought together, even after many years.

I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be. Never Let Me Go

Mr Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie that couldn't be continued. He told the Mother he'd searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn't inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her. That's why I think now Mr Capaldi was wrong and I wouldn't have succeeded. So I'm glad I decided as I did.

that all good stories, never mind how radical or traditional their mode of telling, had to contain relationships that are important to us; that move us, amuse us, anger us, surprise us.

But what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened had such and such a moment turned out differently? One could presumably drive oneself to distraction in this way.

It is surely a professional responsibility for us all to think deeply about these things so that each of us may better strive towards attaining 'dignity' for ourselves.

each of us harboured the desire to make our own small contribution to the creation of a better world.

And yet what precisely is this 'greatness'? Just where, or in what, does it lie? I am quite aware it would take a far wiser head than mine to answer such a question, but if I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say that it· is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart. What is pertinent is the calmness of that beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, of its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it

Wszyscy mamy gorsze dni. Ale w porównaniu z tym co mieliÅ›my przedtem, czujemy, jakbyÅ›my dopiero teraz... ?yli peÅ'niÄ… ?ycia.

But to be frank, there's much relief around the company. We feel now we can forget our past transgressions and look to the future. It was a great thing our President did.

but then it is perhaps in the nature of coming away on a trip such as this that one is prompted towards such surprising new perspectives on topics one imagined one had long ago thought through thoroughly.

For I suppose there's some would hear my words and think our love flawed and broken. But God will know the slow tread of an old couple's love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.

Não há virtude nenhuma em se apegar à tradição só pela tradição, como fazem alguns.

was speaking to me. 'It must be nice sometimes to have no feelings. I envy you.' I considered this, then said: 'I believe I have many feelings. The more I observe, the more feelings become available to me.

It's hard to put the whole world to rights, but let us at least think about how we can prepare our own small corner of it, this corner of 'literature', where we read, write, publish, recommend, denounce and give awards to books. If we are to play an important role in this uncertain future, if we are to get the best from the writers of today and tomorrow, I believe we must become more diverse. I mean this in two particular senses.