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Friends don't need the intervention of a third party. Friendship's a voluntary thing.
Haruki Murakami -
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.
Haruki Murakami
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I spent thirty-three years in another man's shadow. I went everywhere he went, I helped him with everything he did. I was in a sense a part of him. When you live like that for a long time, you gradually lose track of what it is you yourself really want out of life.
Haruki Murakami -
Dreams come from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn't control you--you should control them.
Haruki Murakami -
You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you.
Haruki Murakami -
She was, if anything, on the plain side, at least not the type to attract men wherever she went. But there was something in her face that was meant for me alone. Everytime we met, I took a good look at her. And loved what I saw.
Haruki Murakami -
Chance encounters are what keep us going.
Haruki Murakami -
People want to be bowled over by something special. Nine times out of ten you might strike out, but that tenth time, that peak experience, is what people want. That's what can move the world. That's art.
Haruki Murakami
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I wrote my first two long novels and an anthology of short narratives, when I was a manager of my own jazz bar. There was not enough time to write and I didn't know how to write novels. Therefore, I made written collages of aphorisms and rags.
Haruki Murakami -
No matter how honestly you open up to someone, there are still things you cannot reveal.
Haruki Murakami -
Once, when I was younger, I thought I could be someone else. I'd move to Casablanca, open a bar, and I'd meet Ingrid Bergman. Or more realistically - whether actually more realistic or not - I'd tune in on a better life, something more suited to my true self. Toward that end, I had to undergo training. I read The Greening of America, and I saw Easy Rider three times. But like a boat with a twisted rudder, I kept coming back to the same place. I wasn't anywhere. I was myself, waiting on the shore for me to return.
Haruki Murakami -
As a novelist, you could say that I am dreaming while I am awake, and every day I can continue with yesterday's dream. Because it is a dream, there are so many contradictions and I have to adjust them to make the story work. But, in principle, the original dream does not change.
Haruki Murakami -
The body is not the only target of rape. Violence does not always take a visible form, and not all wounds gush blood.
Haruki Murakami -
Don't pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world?
Haruki Murakami
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The years nineteen and twenty are a crucial stage in the maturation of character, and if you allow yourself to become warped when you're that age, it will cause you pain when you're older.
Haruki Murakami -
What’s more, you’re loads better than you think you are.” “So why is it I get to thinking that way?” I puzzled. “That’s because you’re only half-living.” she said briskly. “The other half is still untapped somewhere.
Haruki Murakami -
The moon had been observing the earth close-up longer than anyone. It must have witnessed all of the phenomena occurring - and all of the acts carried out - on this earth. But the moon remained silent; it told no stories.
Haruki Murakami -
I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do. To dream, to live in the world of dreams. But it doesn’t last forever. Wakefulness always comes to take me back.
Haruki Murakami -
Nobody's easier to fool, than the person who is convinced that he is right.
Haruki Murakami -
The ground we stand on looks solid enough, but if something happens it can drop right out from under you.
Haruki Murakami
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The most dangerous creature here would have to be me. So maybe I'm just scared of my own shadow.
Haruki Murakami -
An expectation was there, mixed in with so many other emotions - excitement, resignation, hesitation, confusion, fear - that would well up then wither on the vine. You're optimistic one moment, only to be racked the next by the certainty that it will all fall to pieces. And in the end it does.
Haruki Murakami -
And, well, mine are kind of on the heavy side anyway. The first day or two, I don't want to do ANYTHING. Make sure you keep away from me then.' I'd like to, but how can I tell?' I asked. O.K., I'll wear a hat for a couple of days after my period starts. A red one. That should work,' she said with a laugh. 'If you see me on the street and I'm wearing a red hat, don't talk to me, just run away.
Haruki Murakami -
Time flows in a strange way on Sundays.
Haruki Murakami