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Haruki Murakami Quotes

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Famous Haruki Murakami Quotes

“Because memory and sensations are so uncertain, so biased, we always rely on a certain reality-call it an alternate reality-to prove the reality of events. To what extent facts we recognize as such really are as they seem, and to what extent these are facts merely because we label them as such, is an impossible distinction to draw. Therefore, in order to pin down reality as reality, we need another reality to relativize the first. Yet that other reality requires a third reality to serve as its grounding. An endless chain is created within our consciousness, and it is the very maintenance of this chain that produces the sensation that we are actually here, that we ourselves exist.”

LifeMindReality
Book:South of the Border, West of the Sun
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“All of us, more or less, wear masks. Because without masks we can’t survive in this violent world. Beneath an evil-spirit mask lies the natural face of an angel, beneath an angel’s mask lies the face of an evil spirit. It’s impossible to have just one or the other. That’s who we are. And that’s Carnaval. Schumann was able to see the many faces of humanity—the masks and the real faces—because he himself was a deeply divided soul, a person who lived in the stifling gap in between the two.”

CarnavalSchumann
Book:First Person Singular: Stories
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“- Lei non è di quella zona? - gli chiese il fotografo che viaggiava con lui. - Sì, - rispose. Tuttavia non telefonò ai suoi. Junpei prese l'aereo e ritornò a Tokyo e alla sua solita routine. Non accendeva la televisione e non apriva i giornali. Quando si parlava di terremoto, taceva. Era un'eco da un passato morto e lontano. Dopo la laurea non aveva mai più messo piede in quella città. Ma ciononostante le immagini di quel paesaggio in rovina avevano riaperto in lui ferite nascoste. Sembrava che quel disastro immane, fatale, stesse modificando impercettibilmente ma inesorabilmente diversi aspetti della sua vita. Provava un profondo senso di solitudine, mai avvertito prima. Non ho nessuna radice, pensava, non sono legato a nulla.”

LifeLife LessonsFreedomFamilyRootsFamily RelationshipsFamily LifeFamily DramaRootless
Book:After the Quake
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“—Cada uno de nosotros sigue perdiendo algo muy preciado —dice cuando el teléfono deja de sonar—. Oportunidades importantes, posibilidades, sentimientos que no podrán recuperarse jamás. Esto es parte de lo que significa estar vivo. Pero dentro de nuestra cabeza, porque creo que es ahí donde debe de estar, hay un pequeño cuarto donde vamos dejando todo esto en forma de recuerdos. Seguro que es algo parecido a las estanterías de esta biblioteca. Y nosotros, para localizar dónde se esconde algo de nuestro corazón, tenemos que ir haciendo siempre fichas catalográficas. Hay que limpiar, ventilar la habitación, cambiar el agua de los jarrones de flores. Dicho de otro modo, tú deberás vivir hasta el fin de tus días en tu propia biblioteca.”

LibraryLibrary QuoteBibliotecas
Book:Kafka on the Shore
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“But this isn’t their God, she decided. It’s my God. This is a God I have found through sacrificing my own life, through my flesh being cut, my skin ripped off, my blood sucked away, my nails torn, all my time and hopes and memories being stolen from me. This is not a God with a form. No white clothes, no long beard. This God has no doctrine, no scripture, no precepts. No reward, no punishment. This God doesn’t give, and doesn’t take away. There is no heaven up in the sky, no hell down below. When it’s hot, and when it’s cold, God is simply there.”

GodGod Is ThereMy God
Book:1Q84
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“Benim kişisel duygum, Midori enikonu sıradışı bir kız olmalı. Mektuplarınızı okurken, ona aşık olduğunuzu iyice anladım. Naoko'ya aşık olduğunuzu da kabul ediyorum. Ve bu sizin suçunuz değil. Böyle şeyler sık sık oluyor. Çok güzel bir havada çok güzel bir gölde gemiyle gezmek kadar basit bir şey. Gökyüzü pırıl pırıl, manzara göz kamaştırıcı. Bu yüzden, böyle acı çekmekten vazgeçeceksiniz. İnsan kendini bırakınca işler olması gerektiği gibi gider ve ne yaparsanız yapın, insanlar kırılınca kırılmıştır demektir. Yaşam böyle. Belki size biraz çok bilmiş gibi görünebilirim, ama sanırım sizin de başınızın çaresine bakmanızın zamanı yakında gelip çatacaktır: Kimi zaman yaşamı, istediğiniz biçime sokmak için fazla zorluyorsunuz. Eğer bir akıl hastanesine girmek istemiyorsanız, yüreğinizi biraz daha açmanız ve kendinizi olayların akışına bırakmanız gerekli. Güçsüz ve kusurlu bir kadın olsam da kimi zaman yaşamın olağanüstü güzel bir şey olması gerektiğini düşündüğüm oluyor! Size yemin ederim ki doğru bu. O halde sizin çok daha mutlu olmanız gerekir. Mutlu olmak için çaba gösterin.”

Reiko
Book:Norwegian Wood
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“Or maybe that’s what it’s all about: this religion’s substance is its lack of substance. In McLuhanesque terms, the medium is the message. Some people might find that cool.” “McLuhanesque?” “Hey, look, even I read a book now and then,” Ayumi protested. “McLuhan was ahead of his time. He was so popular for a while that people tend not to take him seriously, but what he had to say was right.” “In other words, the package itself is the contents. Is that it?” “Exactly. The characteristics of the package determine the nature of the contents, not the other way around.”

ReligionSubstanceMessageMurakamiMediumMcluhan
Book:1Q84
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“In ancient times people weren't just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everybody in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being that people spend their time running around trying to locate their missing other half.”

LoveLifeReligionTheoryExplanation
Book:Kafka on the Shore
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“In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life. An intense love, a veritable tornado sweeping across the plains—flattening everything in its path, tossing things up in the air, ripping them to shreds, crushing them to bits. The tornado’s intensity doesn’t abate for a second as it blasts across the ocean, laying waste to Angkor Wat, incinerating an Indian jungle, tigers and everything, transforming itself into a Persian desert sandstorm, burying an exotic fortress city under a sea of sand. In short, a love of truly monumental proportions. The person she fell in love with happened to be 17 years older than Sumire. And was married. And, I should add, was a woman. This is where it all began, and where it all ended. Almost.”

LoveFalling In LoveIntensityTornadoMonumental
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
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“You are a beautiful person, Doctor. Clearheaded. Strong. But you seem always to be dragging your heart along the ground. From now on, little by little, you must prepare yourself to face death. If you devote all of your future energy to living, you will not be able to die well. You must begin to shift gears, a little at a time. Living and dying are, in a sense, of equal value."--Nimit in "Thailand”

BalanceLiving WellDying Well
Book:After the Quake
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“...我追求的是十分完美无缺的东西，所以才这么难。” “完美无缺的爱？” “不不。就算我再怎么样也不敢那么追求。我所求的只是容许我任性，百分之百的任性。比方说，我现在对你说想吃酥饼，你就什么也不顾地跑去买，气喘吁吁地跑回来递给我，说：'喏，绿子，这就是酥饼。' 可我却说：'我又懒得吃这玩意儿了！' 说着 '呼' 的一声从窗口扔出。这就是我所追求的。”

LovePerfectionIndulgenceForgivingnessWilfulness完美无缺
Book:Norwegian Wood
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“The sense of tragedy - according to Aristotle - comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist's weak points but from his good qualities. Do you know what I'm getting at? People are drawn deeper into tragedy not by their defects but by their virtues. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex being a great example. Oedipus is drawn into tragedy not because of laziness or stupidity, but because of his courage and honesty. So an inevitable irony results. ... [But] we accept irony through a device called metaphor. And through that we grow and become deeper human beings.”

TragedyAthenaAphroditeTragicomedy
Book:Kafka on the Shore
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“Pero esa dureza viene a ser algo así como una premisa para los deportes de esta índole. Si el sufrimiento no formara parte de ellos, ¿quién iba a tomarse la molestia de afrontar desafíos como un maratón o un triatlón, con la inversión de tiempo y esfuerzo que conllevan? Precisamente porque son duros, y precisamente porque nos atrevemos a arrostrar esa dureza, es por lo que podemos experimentar la sensación de estar vivos; y si no experimentamos esa sensación plenamente, sí al menos de manera parcial. Y, a veces (si todo va bien), podemos aprender que lo que de veras da calidad a la vida no se encuentra en cosas fijas e inmóviles, como los resultados, las cifras o las clasificaciones, sino que se halla, inestable, en nuestros propios actos.”

SufrimientoDeportesCorrerMaratónTriatlón
Author:Haruki Murakami
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“Here's what hurst the most," Kafuku said. "I didn't truly understand her--or at least some crucial part of her. And it may well end that way now that she's dead and gone. Like a small, locked safe lying at the bottom of the ocean. It hurts a lot." Tatsuki thought for a moment before speaking. "But Mr. Kafuku, can any of us ever perfectly understand another person? However much we may love them?”

Haruki MurakamiMen Without WomenDrive My Car
Author:Haruki Murakami
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“In his life, after all, he had achieved nothing, had been totally unproductive. He couldn’t make anyone else happy, and, of course, couldn’t make himself happy. Happiness? He wasn’t even sure what that meant. He didn’t have a clear sense, either, of emotions like pain or anger, disappointment or resignation, and how they were supposed to feel. The most he could do was create a place where his heart - devoid now of any depth or weight - could be tethered, to keep it from wandering aimlessly”

Men Without Women
Book:Hombres sin mujeres
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