Quotes from Haruki Murakami

For novelists or musicians, if they really want to create something, they need to go downstairs and find a passage to get into the second basement. What I want to do is go down there, but still stay sane.

Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that's how we've got to live.

When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

I collect records. And cats. I don't have any cats right now. But if I'm taking a walk and I see a cat, I'm happy.

I don't get bored.

It's physical. If you keep on writing for three years, every day, you should be strong. Of course you have to be strong mentally, also. But in the first place you have to be strong physically. That is a very important thing. Physically and mentally you have to be strong.

My father belongs to the generation that fought the war in the 1940s. When I was a kid my father told me stories - not so many, but it meant a lot to me. I wanted to know what happened then, to my father's generation. It's a kind of inheritance, the memory of it.

I've run the Boston Marathon 6 times before. I think the best aspects of the marathon are the beautiful changes of the scenery along the route and the warmth of the people's support. I feel happier every time I enter this marathon.

Wasn't he the one who said you shouldn't trust anybody who calls himself an ordinar man? - Naoko

In terms of evolutionary history, it was only yesterday that men learned to walk around on two legs and get in trouble thinking complicated thoughts. So don't worry, you'll burn out.

I had my jazz club and I had enough money. So I didn't have to write for my living.

What gave money its true meaning was its dark-night namelessness, its breathtaking interchangeability.

Never let the darkness or negativity outside affect your inner self. Just wait until morning comes and the bright light will drown out the darkness.

It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have to live another good day.

I'm going to take you out of here ... I'm going to take you home, to the world where you belong, where cats with bent tails live, and there are little backyards, and alarm clocks ring in the morning.

The light of morning decomposes everything.

It was a short one-paragraph item in the morning edition.

Potentiality knocks on the door of my heart. [On Seeing The 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning ]

People need routines. It's like a theme in music. But it also restrictsyour thoughts and actions and limits your freedom. It structures your priorities and in some cases distorts your logic.

A deserted library in the morning - there's something about it that really gets to me. All possible words and ideas are there, resting peacefully.

I don't think it's right that I'm part of the problem. I can't be part of the solution if I'm part of the problem

At the entrance to the original tower, there is a stone into which Jung carved some words with his own hand: 'Cold or not, God is present.

You have to make an effort to always look at the good side, always think about the good things. Then you've got nothing to be afraid of. If something bad comes up, you do more thinking at that point.

It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.