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Quote by Kazuo Ishiguro

“I remember being taught all about how Japan was created by the gods, for instance. How we as a nation were divine and supreme. We had to memorize the text book word for word. Some things aren’t such a loss, perhaps.’ “But Jim, things aren’t as simple as that. You clearly don’t understand how such things worked. Things aren’t nearly as simple as you presume. We devoted ourselves to ensuring that proper qualities were handed down, that children grew up with the correct attitude to their country, to their fellows. There was a spirit in Japan once, it bound us all together. Just imagine what it must be like being a young boy today. He’s taught no values at school — except perhaps that he should selfishly demand whatever he wants out of life. He goes home and finds his parents fighting because his mother refuses to vote for his father’s party. What a state of affairs.”

Book:A Pale View of Hills

Work

A Pale View of Hills

This novel is a reflective narrative that delves into the complexities of human experience, focusing on the protagonist's journey through the tumultuous period following World War II in Japan. The story is told through the lens of memory, as the protagonist reflects on her past and the lives of those around her, highlighting the enduring impact of history on individual lives. more

Author

Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-born British novelist known for his unique literary style and profound insights into human nature. His works often explore themes of memory, identity, and common human emotions. Born on November 8, 1954, Ishiguro's career began with the publication of his first novel 'When Breath Becomes Air' in 1982, which received widespread acclaim. more

“Their world is governed by children, little despots whose needs - school and camo and activities and tutors - dictate every decision, and will for the next ten, fifteen, eighteen years. Having children has provided their adulthood with an instant and nonnegotiable sense of purpose and direction: they decide the length and location of that year's vacation; they determine if there will be any leftover money; and if so, how might it be spent; they give shape to a day, a week, a year, a life. Children are a kind of cartography, and all one has to do is obey the map they present to you on the day they are born. But he and his friends have no children, and in their absence, the world sprawls before them, almost stifling in its possibilities. Without them, one's status as an adult is never secure; a childless adult creates adulthood for himself, and as exhilarating as it often is, it is also a state of perpetual insecurity, of perpetual doubt.”

Children Child Adulthood

Book:A Little Life

Source: A Little Life

“Why need we weep over parts of our life? the whole of it calls for tears: new miseries assail us before we have freed ourselves from the old ones. You, therefore, who allow them to trouble you to an unreasonable extent ought especially to restrain yourselves, and to muster all the powers of the human breast to combat your fears and your pains. Moreover, what forgetfulness of your own position and that of mankind is this? You were born a mortal, and you have given birth to mortals: yourself a weak and fragile body, liable to all diseases, can you have hoped to produce anything strong and lasting from such unstable materials? Your son has died: in other words he has reached that goal towards which those whom you regard as more fortunate than your offspring are still hastening. this is the point towards which move at different rates all the crowds which are squabbling in the law courts, sitting in the theaters, praying in the temples. Those whom you love and those whom you despise will both be made equal in the same ashes.”

Life Children Misery Mortality

Author:Seneca

“My mother educates me," she said. "We believe that schools inhibit the natural curiosity, creativity and intelligence of children. The mind needs to be opened out into the word, not shuttered down inside a gloomy classroom.”

Children Education

Book:Skellig

Source: Skellig

“Ha-Ha. Son, they're children, not pets. We're not here to train them. Kids come into this world filled with their own ideas and ways to view the world. It's our job to help them realize those ideas even if they're different than our own. We need to try to see the world through their eyes, not force them to see it through ours.”