Quotes from Banana Yoshimoto

It's only natural, when two separate universes touch.

Stavo toccando con mano e vedendo con i miei occhi, per la prima volta, quanto fosse immenso il mondo e profondo l'oscurità e l'infinito fascino e solitudine di tutto ciò.

Cada vez que nos abrazábamos, conocí palabras que no eran palabras.

Begitulah, tapi kalau manusia sama sekali tidak pernah merasa putus asa, kita tidak akan tahu bagian mana dari diri kita yang tidak sanggup kita singkirkan. Lalu kita akan tumbuh dewasa tanpa benar-benar mengerti apa saja yang bisa membuat kita gembira. Aku bahagia karena bisa menderita

Diventerò grande, accadranno tante cose e toccherò il fondo molte volte. Soffrirò molte volte e molte volte mi rimetterò in piedi. Non mi lascerò sconfiggere.

I thought for a moment. Isn't it strange how we unconsciously search for something that will make us cry, only when we want to, and only when we're not able to?

Listen kiddo, by the time you grow up you'll have collected a whole lot of this 'dirt of life' stuff, right, you won't know where it's coming from but it'll pile up, and clothes and pearls won't look as beautiful to you as they do now -- that's for sure. The problem is that dirt, see? You can't ever settle down in one place, you've got to live like you're always, always staring way off into the distance.

She walks away as if she were going to disappear. I wonder if I'll ever see her again." I turned and saw her yellow blouse receding into the distance as she walked along the busy street. She looked like a balloon someone had let loose in the sky. We watched her go.

I'm talking about the lie that says you have to live a proper life, or else you'll be ruined. I worked so hard to be respectable, because I was afraid of what would happen.

All I wanted was to get through this as quickly as possible, to see the day when memories be just memories.

but life went on, even at times like this, and it was surprising how easy it was to keep going as though nothing had changed. i found it strange that i could walk down the street and appear normal, just like anyone else. that i could be in complete turmoil inside, and yet my reflection in a shop window could look the same as it ever had.

Son muchos los que ni siquiera hacen el esfuerzo de imaginar el tesoro que duerme en el corazón de los demás.

As long as it had remained a mystery, I could have dealt with it--no matter how enormous a mystery it became. Now that matters had gotten more specific, my imagination began supplying smells and textures.

La felicidad es vivir sintiendo, lo menos posible, que el hombre, en realidad, está solo.

For some reason I keep getting connected to men who have something to do with plants.

Everyone knows that hidden pull is there, but we go on living our lives, pretending we don't. We keep our gazes fixed, day after day, on the things we want to see.

She could warm up the air, and then gently blow it out, just like a lily. She smelled of a syrup made of boiled-down despair.

When my grandmother died, time died, too, in this apartment.

If you're always angry, always yelling at people, ultimately that just means you depend on them.

People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces; defeat invades from within, I thought. I had lost my last ounce of strength. Before my eyes something was coming to an end, something I didn't want to end, but for which I lacked the energy to suffer, much less fight. There was only a leaden hopelessness in me.

If someone could give me some sort of evidence that what we're doing here is really love, I'd be so tremendously relieved that I'd probably kneel down at that person's feet. And if it isn't love, if it's eventually going to end, I want to go on sleeping like this; I want to stop hearing the phone when he calls. Let me be alone again.

I was frightened of so many things, in my vanity, that ultimately i couldn't protect myself any other way. Try not to be like that, okay? Be sure to keep your tummy warm, try to relax, both your heart and your body, try not to get flustered. Live like a flower. You have that right. It's something you can achieve, for sure, in your lifetime. And it's enough.

Perhaps there are people in this world who love their fountain pens with every fiber of their being—and that's very sad. If you're not in love with him, you can understand him.

Quanti anni avevo quand'ho capito che su quel sentiero buio e solitario l'unica luce possibile era quella che io stessa avrei emanato?