Quotessence
Home / Authors / Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllNorwegian WoodHaruki MurakamiLifeLoveBooksKafka On The ShoreDeathMurakamiBook Quotes1q84LonelinessJapanese LiteratureInspirationalPainWritingRealitySadnessLife LessonsTimeDreams

Famous Haruki Murakami Quotes

“Reiko set the ball on the ground and patted my knee. "Look," she said, "I'm not telling you to stop sleeping with girls. If you're O.K. with that, then it's OK. It's your life after all, it's something you have to decide. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't use yourself up in some unnatural form. Do you see what I'm getting at? It would be such a waste. 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. It's true. So think carefully. If you want to take care of Naoko, take care of yourself too." I said I would think about it.”

LoveHumorSexNorwegian WoodModern Lovers
Book:Norwegian Wood
Create image

“As I held her and caressed her and kissed her naked flesh, I felt a strange and powerful awareness of the imbalance and awkwardness of the human body. Holding Naoko in my arms, I wanted to explain to her, "I am having sex with you now. I am inside you. But really this is nothing. It doesn't matter. It is nothing but the joining of two bodies. All we are doing is telling each other things that can only be told by the rubbing together of two imperfect lumps of flesh. By doing this, we are sharing our imperfection." But of course I could never have said such a thing with any hope of being understood. I just went on holding her tightly.”

LoveSexSkinNorwegian WoodHaruki MurakamiToru Watanabe
Book:Norwegian Wood
Create image

“And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in their own separate orbits. From far off they look like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they're nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we'd be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing.”

LoveAloneness
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
Create image

“And it came to me then. That we were wonderful travelling companions, but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal on their own separate orbits. From far off they look like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they’re nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we’d be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing”

LoveLonlinessLonely LifeSputnik SweetheartMarukami
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“...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
Create image

“Indeed. Loneliness is extremely hard. Whether you're alive or dead, the wasting away, the pain is exactly the same. But even so I still have the strong, vivid memories of having loved someone with all my heart. A feeling that seeped into the palms of my hands and still remains. Whether you have that warmth or not makes all the difference in the way your soul remains after death.”

LoveLonleness
Book:The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Create image

“And another important fact was this-I was not seeking all of her. Her entire being wouldn't fit, perhaps, in the small box I pos- sessed now. I was no longer a seventeen-year-old boy. Back then, I had all the time in the world. But not now. The time I have now, and the ways I can use it, have become so limited. What I sought now was the gentle warmth that lay inside, beneath her defensive wall. And the rhythmic beat of the heart that lay pulsing beneath. At this point was I asking for too little? Or too much?”

LoveTime
Book:The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Create image

“And another important fact was this-I was not seeking all of her. Her entire being wouldn't fit, perhaps, in the small box I possessed now. I was no longer a seventeen-year-old boy. Back then, I had all the time in the world. But not now. The time I have now, and the ways I can use it, have become so limited. What I sought now was the gentle warmth that lay inside, beneath her defensive wall. And the rhythmic beat of the heart that lay pulsing beneath. At this point was I asking for too little? Or too much?”

LoveTime
Book:The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Create image

“I put my arm around her. You put your arm around her. She leans against you. And a long spell of time passes. "Did you know that I did this exact same thing a long time ago? Right in this same spot?" "I know," you tell her. "How do you know that?' Miss Saeki asks, and looks you in the eyes. "I was there then." "Blowing up bridges?" "Yes, I was there, blowing up bridges." "Metaphorically." "Of course." You hold her in your arms, draw her close, kiss her. You can feel the strength deserting her body. "We're all dreaming, aren't we?" she says. All of us are dreaming. "Why did you have to die?" "I couldn't help it," you reply. Together you walk along the beach back to the library. You turn off the light in your room, draw the curtains, and without another word climb into bed and make love. Pretty much the same sort of lovemaking as the night before. But with two differences. After sex, she starts to cry. That's one. She buries her face in the pillow and silently weeps. You don't know what to do. You gently lay a hand on her bare shoulder. You know you should say something, but don't have any idea what. Words have all died in the hollow of time, piling up soundlessly at the dark bottom of a volcanic lake. And this time as she leaves you can hear the engine of her car. That's number two. She starts the engine, turns it off for a time, like she's thinking about something, then turns the key again and drives out of the parking lot. That blank, silent interval between leaves you sad, so terribly sad. Like fog from the sea, that blankness wends its way into your heart and remains there for a long, long time. Finally it's a part of you. She leaves behind a damp pillow, wet with her tears. You touch the warmth with your hand and watch the sky outside gradually lighten. Far away a crow caws. The Earth slowly keeps on turning. But beyond any of those details of the real, there are dreams. And everyone's living in them.”

LoveDeathLossGriefDreams
Author:Haruki Murakami
Create image

“Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past. We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about everyday, too many new things we have to learn. But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone.”

LoveLifeLife LessonsMemoriesLetting GoForgettingNot Letting Go
Book:Kafka on the Shore
Create image