FAMOUS MURAKAMI QUOTES

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

“The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.”

“What we seek is some kind of compensation for what we put up with.”

“But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much.”

“What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.”

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”

“If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.”

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

“You’re looking for the things that are clear and feeble. If you want to find a towering strength that would overturn any situation, despite how feeble it may be, call it ‘unrealistic’ or ‘intangible’ if it makes you feel better.”

“No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That’s all.”

“You can’t please everyone. When you’re too focused on living up to other people’s standards, you aren’t spending enough time raising your own. Some people may whisper, complain, and judge. But for the most part, it’s all in your head. Life becomes easier when you let go of the unneeded stress. Don’t worry about the people who don’t like you. Enjoy the ones who love you.”

“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”

“Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.”

“But the truth of it is, only the present counts. Comparing the past to the present is a drama for the aged. ‘There’s some merit to being young,’ she says. ‘You can lie to yourself.'” HAVE A BAD DAY QUOTES

“There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair.”

“Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy.”

“In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It’s important to combine the two in just the right amount.”

“It’s impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.”

“If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t.”

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.”

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain: when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

“I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”

“But even so, every now and then, I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o’clock in the morning.”

“Listening to him, I realized how focused my mind had been on my pain. But now, I was hearing my pain. Listening to it. Alive with it. If my pain were music, would it be a mournful ballad? A plaintive guitar solo? Would I be able to bear listening to it?”

“You could disappear and no one would notice.”

“In this place, ever since its birth, every form of life has been an exchange of love.”

“It is both good and necessary for every person to have occasions in which they can be resolute and each act on their own conscience.”

“The long night had just begun.”