Quotessence
Home / Authors / Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingIfsPeopleNever Let Me GoWorldLiteratureMightYearsKnowsWayBookWritingTryingDignityEnoughLoveWantLet Me GoLooksMemories

Famous Kazuo Ishiguro Quotes

“Might as well tell you. In that shop we were in, they had this shelf with loads of records and tapes. So I was looking for the one you lost that time. Do you remember, Kath? I never told you at the time, but I tried really hard to find it. I remember looking for ages. And when it looked in the end like it wasn't going to turn up, I just said to myself, one day I'll go to Norfolk and I'll find it there for her.”

NorfolkNever Let Me GoTommy
Book:Never Let Me Go
Create image

“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever.”

PeopleThinkingLoveTryingTwoEndsHardTogetherMovingStrongWaterForeverToo MuchOur LivesLetting GoRiversShameCurrentsHolding OnLet Me GoTogether ForeverNever Let Me Go
Author:Kazuo Ishiguro
Create image

“I half closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, and maybe even call.”

IfsLongEnoughEyeLostHalfChildhoodFrontsFiguresFieldsStandingWaveTinySpotsHorizonNever Let Me Go
Book:Never Let Me Go
Create image

“What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been his own childhood. He knew he was close to completing and so that's what he was doing: getting me to describe things to him, so they'd really sink in, so that maybe during those sleepless nights, with the drugs and the paint and the exhaustion, the line would blur between what were my memories and what were his.”

WantedRememberNightLinesMemoriesChildhoodDrugPaintExhaustionBlurCompletingSleepless NightsNever Let Me Go
Book:Never Let Me Go
Create image

“When we lost something precious, and we'd looked and looked and still couldn't find it, then we didn't have to be completely heartbroken. We still had that last bit of comfort, thinking one day, when we grow up, and we were free to travel around the counry, we would always go and find it in Norfolk...And that's why years and years later, that day Tommy and I found another copy of that lost tape of mine in a town on the Norfolk coast, we didn't just think it pretty funny; we both felt deep down some tug, some old wish to believe again in something that was once close to our hearts.”

ThinkingYearsBelieveHeartStillsLastsFoundLostWishGrowsFeltBitsGrowing UpMinesComfortOne DayTownsCopiesTapeCoastHeartbrokenDeep DownNorfolkNever Let Me Go
Author:Kazuo Ishiguro
Create image

“I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel, world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go.”

WorldHeartKindLittlesEyeGirlSawsVery GoodCuresSicknessBreastsNew WorldEfficientHer EyesHarshPleadingCruel WorldLet Her GoNever Let Me Go
Author:Kazuo Ishiguro
Create image

“If you were a boy and a girl and you were in love with each other, really, properly in love, and if you could show it, then the people who run Hailsham, they sorted it out for you. They sorted it out so you could have a few years together before you began your donations.”

PeopleIfsYearsShowsRunningTogetherGirlBoysDonationNever Let Me GoYears Together
Book:Never Let Me Go: With GCSE and A Level study guide
Create image

“And so we stood together like that, at the top of that field for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging our clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onto each other because that was the only way to stop us from being swept away into the night.”

WayMomentsAgeTogetherNightFieldsWindClothesSwept AwayTuggingNever Let Me Go
Book:Never Let Me Go: With GCSE and A Level study guide
Create image