Quotes from Banana Yoshimoto

Especially not something like abandoning my professional standards, because that would throw the rest of my life out of balance.

It was true that she jumped to conclusions and that her life was a mess - even her earlier stint as a salesman had been a failure. I was aware of all that, but the beauty of her tears was something I would not soon forget. She made me realise that the human heart is something very precious.

Quando rispondiamo al rancore con altro rancore, allora è il momento in cui dobbiamo fermarci. Solo in questo modo potremo smettere di incontrare persone che vivono in preda allo stesso sentimento

Because the sky is high and lonely, and it makes me feel very alone, and that makes my heart dance, and then I feel stronger. But at the same time, there's this energy in the air; it's a time of waiting, before winter really sets in.

We're constantly making choices. With the breaths we take every day, with the expression in our eyes, with the daily actions we do over and over, we decide as though by instinct.

willingness to give in is rampant in this society of ours.

In this world, there is no place for sadness. No place; not one.

Her eyes were too knowing and serene; the expression on her face hinted that she had tasted deeply of the sorrows and joys of this world. The air around her seemed somehow charged.

Nuestra luz interior, la bella luz transparente del exterior y la luz que resplandecía cuando estábamos juntos se fundió en una sola luz que iluminó nuestro futuro.

In retrospect, I realise that fate was a ladder on which, at the time, I could not afford to miss a single rung. To skip out on even one scene would have meant never making it to the top, although it would have been by far the easier choice. What motivated me was probably that little light still left in my half-dead heart, glittering in the darkness. Yet without it, perhaps, I might have slept better.

El pavor que infunde el río es el pavor y la inmensidad inescrutable que suscita el fluir del tiempo

Pero si él pudiera acostumbrarse al hecho de que todos los días son una absurda repetición del anterior, a estar siempre con la misma persona, a la idea de que únicamente el vuelo de un pequeño corazón puede colorear el mundo..., si fuera capaz, entonces, quizás, algo podría ir cambiando, poco a poco.

Principalmente non si mangia mai da soli. Il cibo è determinante alla comunicazione tra le persone. Il cibo e la famiglia, per questo ne ho fatto un simbolo.

Tu e io non abbiamo mica la fortuna contro, no? Siamo solo inghiottiti da questa atmosfera, non credi? Adesso è impossibile. Ma è solo adesso, che è impossibile, vero?

In the black gloom before my eyes (as it always is in cases of bewitchment), I saw a straight road leading from me to him. He seemed to glow with white light. That was the effect he had on me.

Que los muertos no volvían. Que una cosa era sólo una cosa

He lived knowing that he had already experienced perfection; that, no doubt, was what gave him a certain aura of sadness, and a sense of flexibility.

Es decir, que por fin habían aflorado los colores de mi personalidad, como le suele ocurrir a cualquier que ha estado sometido durante mucho tiempo a cierta formación

Es decir, que por fin habían aflorado los colores de mi personalidad, como le suele ocurrir a cualquiera que ha estado sometido durante mucho tiempo a cierta formación

I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.

It always seems like such a waste preparing a meal for one,' Nakajima said. 'A waste of food and a waste of time. But I don't feel that way at all when I'm cooking for two.

Parting & death are both terribly painful. But to keep nursing the memory of a love so great you can't believe you'll ever love again is a useless drain on a woman's energies.

Why is it we have so little choice? We live like the lowliest worms. Always defeated - defeated we make dinner, we eat, we sleep. Everyone we love is dying. Still, to cease living is unacceptable.

When I woke up, for a second, I could still vividly feel the sensation of my arms around my mother's neck, and my chest against hers. I was overcome by such a deep yearning that I cried as much as I'd ever cried in my life.