Quotes from Haruki Murakami

The sky was a fresh-swept blue, with only a trace of white cloud clinging to the dome of heaven like a thin streak of test paint

Dying is the only way/ For you to float free: / Nomonhan

The passage of time will usually extract the venom from most things and render them harmless. Then, sooner or later, I forget about them.

I think serious readers of books are 5% of the population. If there are good TV shows or a World Cup or anything, that 5% will keep on reading books very seriously, enthusiastically. And if a society banned books, they would go into the forest and remember all the books. So I trust in their existence. I have confidence.

When you see runners in town, it's easy to distinguish beginners from veterans. Their hearts, lost in thought, slowly tick away time. When we pass each other on the road, we listen to the rhythm of each other's breathing, and sense the way the other person is ticking away the moments. Much like two writers perceive each other's diction and style.

When you are used to the kind of life of never getting anything you want, you stop knowing what it is you want.

Cuando su corazón se mueve, tira del mío. Como dos barcas atadas por una cuerda. Que no se puede cortar, pues no existe ningún cuchillo capaz de cortarla.

As he watched his father, Tengo started to have doubts about the difference between a person being alive and being dead. Maybe there really wasn't much of a difference to begin with, he though, maybe we just decided, for convenience's sake, to insist on a difference.

no meter la pata debido a las prisas, no seguir siempre las mismas rutinas y, cuando hubiera que mentir, contar mentiras lo más sencillas que se pudiera

As with most people who are well raised, well educated, and financially secure, Dr. Tokai only thought of himself.

What I felt then was a deep terror. And a kind of hopelessness, a feeling that I could never run away from this thing, no matter how far I went. And this creature, this thing doesn't give a damn that I'm me or you're you. In its presence, all human beings lose their names and their faces. We all turn into signs, into numbers.

Anyhow, be happy. I get the feeling a lot of shit is going to come your way, but you're a stubborn son of a bitch, I'm sure you'll handle it. Mind if I give you one piece of advice?" "Sure, go ahead." "Don't feel sorry for yourself," he said. "Only assholes do that.

I've built a wall around me, never letting anybody inside and trying not to venture outside myself. Who could like somebody like that?

And one of the privileges given to those who've avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old. The honor of physical decline is waiting, and you have to get used to that reality.

Even if I left this world, I doubt anyone would notice. I would shout out from the dark, but no one would hear me. Still, I have to keep soldiering on until I die, the only way I know how. Not a laudable sort of life, but the only life I know how to live.

Quiero llegar hasta donde pueda empleando todas mis fuerzas. Tomando lo que quiero, dejando lo que no quiero. Así es como vivo. Si meto la pata, me detengo y lo reconsidero. Si uno le da la vuelta a esta sociedad injusta, entiende que en el mundo puede explotar sus posibilidades. -Nagasawa

Nos cÅ"urs ne sont pas de pierre. Les pierres peuvent s'effondrer et se briser, perdre leur forme. Mais le cÅ"ur ne peut pas s'effondrer. Le cÅ"ur n'a pas de forme mais il peut se propager à l'infini.

Am I happy? If you asked me this, I'd have to say, 'Yeah, I guess.' Because dreams are, after all, just that: dreams.

I forgive you. And with those words, audibly, the frozen part of your heart crumbles.

A circle that has many centers but no circumference

He had read many books over the years, but he owned few. He tended to dislike filling his home with a lot of possessions. When he finished a book, unless it was something quite special, he would take it to a used-book store. He bought only books he knew he was going to read right away, and he would read the ones he cared about very closely, until they were ingrained in his mind. When he needed other books he would borrow them from the neighborhood library.

Wakeful nights often give people useless thoughts.

Mutual understanding is of critical importance. There are those who say that 'understanding' is merely the sum total of our misunderstandings

Gotas de chuva nas rosas e bigodes nos gatinhos.