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Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto Quotes

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Famous Banana Yoshimoto Quotes

“Ultimately, though, it's living people that frighten me the most. It's always seemed to me that nothing could be scarier than a person, because as dreadful places can be, they're still just places; and no matter how awful ghosts might seem, they're just dead people. I always thought that the most terrifying things anyone could ever think up were the things living people came up with.”

PeopleThinkingPersonsStillsMatterSeemsMightGhostAwfulDead People
Book:Hardboiled: & Hard Luck
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“In places where a loved one has died, time stops for eternity. If I stand on the very spot, one says to oneself, like a prayer, might I feel the pain he felt? They say that on a visit to an old castle or whatever, the history of the place, the presence of people who walked there many years ago, can be felt in the body. Before, when I heard things like that, I would think, what are they talking about? But i felt I understood it now.”

PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsYearsBodyMightPainFeltPrayerTalkingHeardUnderstoodYears AgoEternityDiedOneselfSpotsLoved OnesCastles
Book:Three plays
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“We ran into lots of old friends. Friends from elementary school, junior high school, high school. Everyone had matured in their own way, and even as we stood face to face with them they seemed like people from dreams, sudden glimpses through the fences of our tangled memories. We smiled and waved, exchanged a few words, and then walked on in our separate directions.”

PeopleWayDreamSchoolFacesMemoriesHigh SchoolRanFenceGlimpseJuniorsFace To FaceOld FriendsTangledFew WordsElementary SchoolJunior HighMaturedHigh School Junior
Book:Goodbye Tsugumi
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“For ten years I had been protected, wrapped up in something like a blanket that had been stitched together from all kinds of different things. But people never notice that warmth until after they've emerged. You don't even notice that you've been inside until it's too late for you ever to go back-- that's how perfect the temperature of that blanket is.”

PeopleYearsKindDifferentTogetherPerfectTenLateAll KindsToo LateDifferent ThingsWarmthProtectedTemperatureBlanket
Book:Goodbye Tsugumi
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“Chilled-looking people walking along the riverside, the snow beginning, faintly, to pile up on the roofs of cars, the bare trees shaking their heads left and right, dry leaves tossing in the wind. The silver of the metal window sash sparkling coldly. Soon after, I heard sensei call, "Mikage! Are you awake? It's snowing, look! It's snowing!" "I'm coming!" I called out, standing up. I got dressed to begin another day. Over and over, we begin again.”

PeopleLooksLeftHeardTreeCarWindWalkingStandingWindowSnowAwakeDrySilverMetalsRoofShakingAnother DaySparklingBegin AgainLeft And RightSenseiChilledDry LeavesRiversideBare Trees
Book:Kitchen
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“Time expands and contracts. When it expands, it’s like pitch: it folds people in its arms and holds them forever in its embrace. It doesn’t let us go so easily. Sometimes you go back again to the place you’ve just come from, stop and close your eyes, and realize that not a second has passed, and time just leaves you there, stranded, in the darkness”

PeopleSometimesEyeRealizingDarknessForeverArmsEmbraceContractsFoldsBack AgainStranded
Book:Hardboiled: & Hard Luck
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“Hitoshi: I'll never be able to be here again. As the minutes slide by, I move on. The flow of time is something I cannot stop. I haven't a choice. I go. One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I've yet to meet, others I'll never see again. People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes. I earnestly pray that a trace of my girl-child self will always be with you. For waving good-bye, I thank you.”

PeopleKnowsChildrenSelfSeemsEyeAbleMovingChoicesGirlGrowsGoneMinutesHavensPrayingFlowRiversPassingPassingsTransparentSlidesByeGood ByeMy GirlPassing ThroughSelf WillCaravansFlowing RiverGirl Child
Book:Three plays
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“It’s a marvelous thing, the ocean. For some reason when two people sit together looking out at it, they stop caring whether they talk or stay silent. You never get tired of watching it. And no matter how rough the waves get, you’re never bothered by the noise the water makes by the commotion of the surface - it never seems too loud, or too wild.”

PeopleTwoMatterReasonSeemsTogetherWaterOceanTiredSilentWaveCaringSurfaceNoiseLoudRoughMarvelousBotheredMarvelous ThingsStop Caring
Book:Goodbye Tsugumi
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