Quotes from Banana Yoshimoto

Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends. Perhaps Eriko's was only a minor kind of greatness, but her light was sorely missed.

Dad's absence in our lives now was so complete it almost felt cruel. In six months' time, I would be in a place I'd never been before, being stimulated by lots of new experiences, continuing my journey toward the flavors of the next phase of my life.

To the extend that I had come to understand that despair does not necessarily result in annihilation, that one can go on as usual in spite of it, I had become hardened. Was that what it means to be an adult, to live with ugly ambiguities? I didn't like it, but it made it easier to go on.

the familiar and nostalgic colors and smells, tastes, and places in our memories.

Glück bedeutet, nicht zu merken, dass man letztlich allein ist.

All'estremità del ponte c'erano delle piccole strisce di terra su cui, esposta alla dolce brezza notturna, era fiorita una moltitudine di fiori bianchi. Ogni volte che, flessi dal vento, ondeggiavano tutti insieme, per qualche istante restava un'immagine bianca, proprio come succede nei sogni.

Capii che io non ero il centro del mondo. La quota di sofferenze nella vita non variava certo in rapporto a me. Non ero io che potevo decidere. Allora, pensai, tanto valeva godersi, per quanto possibile, il resto.

As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.

Rifletteva il cielo azzurro di quella preziosa schiarita della stagione delle piogge.

It was all your imagination. And imagination is sometimes worse than reality.

Time expands and contracts. When it expands, it's like pitch: it folds people in its arms and holds them forever in its embrace. It doesn't let us go very easily. Sometimes you go back again to the place you've just come from, stop and close your eyes, and realize that not a second has passed, and time just leaves you there, stranded, in the darkness.

But love is not a joke, it also means sharing someone else's pain.

In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions, much of one's life history is etched in the senses. And things of no particular importance, or have irreplaceable things, can suddenly resurface in a cafe one winter night.

I silently implored: May the memory of this moment, here, the glowing impression of the two of us facing each other in this warm, bright place, drinking lovely hot tea, help save him, even a little bit. Words, too explicit, always cast a shadow over that faint glow.

I don't put any stock in whatever it is that happens inside my head.

Cuando me enfrenté a las tinieblas de mi corazón, cuando me sentí herida en lo más hondo y me rompí en pedazos, exhausta, de improviso emergió de mi interior una fuerza inexplicable

after finding myself in the direst straits, I thanked the gods—whether they existed or not—with all my heart.

Ciò che è inciso nel corpo non scompare.

If I try to say what it is now, it's very simple: I realised the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me. It was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness.

There was all the time in the world. In the endless repetition of other nights, other mornings, this moment, too, might become a dream.

Certo, osserviamo tutti il mondo da dentro una scatola, e se fossimo dentro a un'altra la penseremmo diversamente. Ma visto che è in questa che siamo, possiamo solo continuare a viverre considerandola la migliore in assoluto, pur dubitandone di tanto in tanto.

Alles kommt aus dem Nil, und alles verschwindet im Nil. Der Gott der Sonne zieht am Mittagshimmel entlang, reist abends durch die Unterwelt und kehrt am Morgen wieder zurück.

Erika always handled her own problems no matter where they were. He got that from her, and this is the dark side of that independence. It's gone too far!

Sentirse solo a pesar de tener un hogar al que regresar, a pesar de ser amado, puede que en eso consistía ser joven»