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“Of course, reading novels was just another form of escape. As soon as he closed their pages he had to come back to the real world. But at some point Tengo noticed that returning to reality from the world of a novel was not as devastating a blow as returning from the world of mathematics. Why should that have been? After much deep thought, he reached a conclusion. No matter how clear the relationships of things might become in the forest of story, there was never a clear-cut solution. That was how it differed from math. The role of a story was, in the broadest terms, to transpose a single problem into another form. Depending on the nature and direction of the problem, a solution could be suggested in the narrative. Tengo would return to the real world with that suggestion in hand. It was like a piece of paper bearing the indecipherable text of a magic spell. At times it lacked coherence and served no immediate practical purpose. But it would contain a possibility. Someday he might be able to decipher the spell. That possibility would gently warm his heart from within.”

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“Because you are neither an angel nor a god. I am quite aware that your actions have been prompted by your pure feelings, and I understand perfectly well that, for that very reason, you do not wish to receive money for what you have done. But pure unadultered feelings are dangerous in their own way. It is no easy feat for a flesh-and-blood human being to go on living with such feelings. That is why it is necessary for you to fasten your feelings to the earth – firmly, like attaching an anchor to a balloon. The money is for that. To prevent you from feeling that you can do anything you want as long as it’s the right thing and your feelings are pure.”

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“Su vida parecía haber perdido el rumbo. Aunque nunca se había fijado realmente un objetivo, hasta entonces la gente había creado ciertas expectativas a su alrededor. Respondiendo a esas expectativas, su vida había transcurrido con bastante ajetreo. Una vez se habían terminado las exigencias y expectativas, no le quedaba nada más que contar. No tenía ningún objetivo en la vida. Ningún amigo íntimo. Abandonado en medio de un sosiego similar a a una bonanza, era incapaz de concentrarse en la vida”

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“Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Which is where religion comes from." (...) "If a certain belief--call it 'Belief A'--makes the life of that man or this woman appear to be something of deep meaning, then for them belief A is the truth. If Belief B makes their lives appear to be powerless & puny, then Belief b turns out to be a falsehood. The distinction is quite clear. If someone insists that Belief B is the truth, people will probably hate him ignore him, or, in some cases, attack him. It means nothing to them that Belief B might be logical or provable.”

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“Robbing people of their actual history is the same as robbing them of part of themselves. It’s a crime." Fuka-Eri thought about that for a moment. Tengo went on, “Our memory is made up of our individual memories and our collective memories. The two are intimately linked. And history is our collective memory. If our collective memory is taken from us - is rewritten - we lose the ability to sustain our true selves.”

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“A smile played around Aomame's straight lips. People were focused on her actions. No one was surprised to see her pull a gun out of her bag-- or at least they did not show surprise on their faces. Maybe they didn't believe it was a real gun. 'It is, though,' Aomame told them mentally. Next she turned the gun upward and thrust the muzzle into her mouth. Now it was aimed directly at her cerebrum-- the gray labyrinth where consciousness resided.”

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“Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, & almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Which is where religion comes from." The man turned his neck several times before continuing. "If a certain belief--call it 'Belief A'--makes the life of that man or this woman appear to be something of deep meaning, then for them belief A is the truth. If Belief B makes their lives appear to be powerless & puny, then Belief b turns out to be a falsehood. The distinction is quite clear. If someone insists that Belief B is the truth, people will probably hate him ignore him, or, in some cases, attack him. It means nothing to them that Belief B might be logical or provable.”

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“En este mundo no existe ni la bondad absoluta ni la maldad absoluta (...) El bien y el mal no son algo estático e inamovible, sino algo que siempre está cambiando de lugar y situación. La bondad puede convertirse al instante en maldad y viceversa. (...) Lo importante es preservar el equilibrio entre ese bien y ese mal en constante movimiento. Inclinándose demasiado por uno de los dos, resulta difícil mantener la moral de la vida real. Sí, el equilibrio en sí mismo es el bien.”

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“All kinds of things are happening to me. Some I chose, some I didn't. I don't know how to tell one from the other anymore. What I mean is, it feels like everything's been decided in advance - that I'm following a path somebody else has already mapped out for me. It doesn't matter how much I think things over, how much effort I put into it. In fact, the harder I try, the more I lose my sense of who I am. It's like my identity's an orbit that I've strayed far away from, and that really hurts. But more than that, it scares me. Just thinking about it makes me flinch.”

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“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't some­ thing that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you.”

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“Until Edison invented the electric light, most of the world was totally covered in darkness. The physical darkness outside and the inner darkness of the soul were mixed together, with no boundary separating the two. They were directly linked. But today things are different. The darkness in the outside world has vanished, but the darkness in our heart remains, virtually unchanged.” ― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore”

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“In the depths of our crater lake, everything is silent. The volcano's been extinct for ages. Layer upon layer of solitude, like folds of soft mud. The little bit of light that manages to penetrate to the depths lights up the surroundings like the remains of some faint, distant memory. At these depths there's no sign of life. I don't know how long she looks at me—not at me, maybe, but at the spot where I am. Time's rules don't apply here.”

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“The lyrics, though, are pretty symbolic, " I venture. "From time immemorial, symbolism and poetry have been inseparable. Like a pirate and his rum. " "Do you think Miss Saeki knew what all the lyrics mean?" Oshima looks up, listening to the thunder as if calculating how far away it is. He turns to me and shakes his head. "Not necessarily. Symbolism and meaning are two separate things. I think she found the right words by bypass­ ing procedures like meaning and logic. She captured words in a dream, like delicately catching hold of a butterfly's wings as it flutters around. Artists are those who can evade the verbose." "So you're saying Miss Saeki maybe found those words in some other space-like in dreams?" "Most great poetry is like that. If the words can't create a prophetic tunnel connecting them to the reader, then the whole thing no longer func­ tions as a poem." "But plenty of poems only pretend to do that." "Right. It's a kind of trick, and as long as you know that it isn't hard. As long as you use some symbolic-sounding words, the whole thing looks like a poem of sorts." "In 'Kafka on the Shore' I feel something urgent and serious." "Me too, " Oshima says.”

Kafka On The Shore
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