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Haruki Murakami Quotes

Browse 133 quotes about Haruki Murakami.

Haruki Murakami Quotes

“In this world, there is no absolute good, no absolute evil," the man said. "Good and evil are not fixed, stable entities but are continually trading places. A good may be transformed into an evil in the next second. And vice versa. Such was the way of the world that Dostoevksy depicted in The Brothers Karamazov. The most important thing is to maintain the balance between the constantly moving good and evil. If you lean too much in either direction, it becomes difficult to maintain actual morals. Indeed, balance itself is the good.”

EvilBalanceGoodHaruki MurakamiYin And Yang1q84
Book:1Q84
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“Eifersucht war - das hatte Tsukuru durch diesen Traum begriffen - das trostloseste Gefängnis, das es auf der Welt gab. Denn es war ein Gefängnis, in das der Gefangene sich gewissermaßen selbst einsperrte. Niemand zwang ihn dazu. Er ging aus freien Stücken hinein, schloss von innen ab und warf den Schlüssel durch das Gitter nach außen. Und niemand auf der ganzen Welt wusste, dass er dort eingekerkert war. Nur wenn er sich selbst dazu entschloss, konnte er es verlassen. Denn das Gefängnis befand sich in seinem Inneren. Doch er war außerstande, diesen Entschluss zu fassen. Sein Herz war von einer unüberwindlichen Mauer umgeben. Das war die wahre Natur der Eifersucht.”

FeelingsJealousyHaruki MurakamiEifersucht
Author:Haruki Murakami
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“One guy yelled at me, 'You stupid bitch, how do you live like that with nothing in your brain?' Well, that did it. I wasn't going to put up with that. OK, so I'm not so smart. I'm working class. But it's the working class that keeps the world running, and it's the working classes that get exploited. What kind of revolution is it that just throws out big words that working-class people can't understand? What kind of crap social revolution is that? I mean, I'd like to make the world a better place, too. If somebody's really being exploited, we've got to put a stop to it. That's what I believe, and that's why I ask questions. (...) So that's when it hit me. These guys are fakes. All they've got on their minds is impressing the new girls with the big words they're so proud of, while sticking their hands up their skirts.(...) They marry pretty wives who've never read Marx and have kids they give fancy new names to that are enough to make you puke. Smash what educational-industrial complex? Don't make me laugh! (...) They're scared to death somebody's gonna find out they don't know something. They all read the same books and they all spout the same slogans, and they love listening to John Coltrane and seeing Pasolini movies. You call that 'revolution'? (...) Revolution or not, the working class will just keep on scraping a living in the same old shitholes. And what is a revolution? It sure as hell isn't just changing the name on city hall. But those guys don't know that - those guys with their big words.”

SocietyRevolutionNorwegian WoodHaruki MurakamiMarxMidori
Book:Norwegian Wood
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“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
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“どうしてみんなこれほどまで孤独にならなくてはならにのだろう、僕はそう思った。どうしてそんなに孤独になる必要があるのだ。これだけ多くの人々がこの世界に生きていて、それぞれに他者の中に何かを求めあっていて、なのになぜ我々はここまで孤絶しなくてはならないのだ。何のために？この惑星は人々の寂寥を滋養として回転を続けているのか。 ¿Por qué nos sentimos tan solos? ¿Qué necesidad hay? ¿Por qué y para qué aislarnos del resto de la gente si somos tantos los que vivimos en este mundo y cada uno de nosotros busca y espera algo de los demás? ¿Acaso este planeta gira únicamente para nutrirse de la desolación de las personas?”

Japanese LiteratureHaruki Murakami
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
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“「韓国では猫を食べるっていう話を聞いたけれど、本当？」 「私もその話を聞いたことはある。でも私のまわりには、実際に食べた人はいないわね。」 —He oído que en Corea se comen a los gatos. ¿Es verdad? —Yo también he oído esa historia, pero la verdad es que a mi alrededor no había una sola persona que los hubiese comido.”

Japanese LiteratureHaruki Murakami
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
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“私には同性愛の経験はなかったし、自分にそういう傾向があると考えたこともなかった。でももしすみれが真剣に求めているのなら、私はそれにこたえてもかまわないと思ったのよ。 Nunca tuve una experiencia homosexual, y jamás pensé que tenía esa tendencia. Pero si eso era lo que Sumire estaba buscando, no me importaba corresponderle.”

Japanese LiteratureHaruki Murakami
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
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“この女性はすみれを愛している。しかし性欲を感じることはできない。すみれはこの女性を愛し、しかも性欲を感じている。僕はすみれを愛し、性欲を感じている。すみれは僕を好きではあるけれど、愛してはいないし、性欲を感じることもせきない。 Esta mujer amaba a Sumire, pero no sentía ningún deseo sexual por ella. Sumire, en cambio, amaba a esta mujer y la deseaba sexualmente. En cuanto a mí, yo amaba a Sumire y la deseaba, y sé que ella me quería mucho, pero no me amaba ni me correspondía sexualmente.”

Japanese LiteratureHaruki Murakami
Book:Sputnik Sweetheart
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“Allowing ourselves to become pure point of view, we hang in midair over the city. What we see now is a gigantic metropolis waking up. Commuter trains of many colors move in all directions, transporting people from place to place. Each of those under transport is a human being with a different face and mind, and at the same time each is a nameless part of the collective identity. Each is simultaneously a self-contained whole and a mere part. Handling this dualism of theirs skillfully and advantageously, they perform their morning rituals with deftness and precision: brushing teeth, shaving, tying neckties, applying lipstick. They check the morning news on TV, exchange words with their families, eat, defecate.”

LifeCityJapaneseHaruki MurakamiAfter Dark
Book:After Dark
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“The regular choreography, entrances and exits of blooms in stages such that the garden looked like an ever-evolving carousel of swirling rainbows and radiant butterflies, seemed condensed. All of the flowers still obeyed some silent urgent command to make their debut. But this year, it definitely unfolded more quickly, as if racing to meet a new compelling deadline.”

JapanIntrigueNigeriaTrue CrimeKenyaHaruki MurakamiMystery ThrillerUgandaDrug CartelsDrug Trafficking
Book:Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun
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“It was the fundamental bifurcation of the masses of human meat into two starkly opposite classes: the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots had barely anything. The haves had it all. The haves had everything except concern and compassion for the have-nots, who they regarded as little more than cockroaches.”

JapanIntrigueNigeriaTrue CrimeKenyaHaruki MurakamiMystery ThrillerUgandaDrug CartelsDrug Trafficking
Book:Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun
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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.”

HumanGoodBadHaruki Murakami1q84
Book:1Q84
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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.”

PhilosophyReligionHaruki Murakami1q84
Book:1Q84
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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.”

HistoryMemoryHaruki Murakami1q84Cultural Memory
Author:Haruki Murakami
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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.”

Fiction NovelHaruki Murakami1q84
Book:1Q84
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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.”

Haruki Murakami1q84Religon
Author:Haruki Murakami
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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.”

LifeHaruki MurakamiKafka On The Shore
Book:Kafka on the Shore
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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.”

PsychologicalThrillerMetaphysicalJapaneseHaruki MurakamiKafka On The ShoreFictional
Book:Kafka on the Shore
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