Hiromi Kawakami Quotes

When you get old and long-sighted, you can't look your sweetheart in the eye from close up. You need a little distance, so that you can focus on each other. So that your faces don't look blurry- anyway, you need a little distance.

being in love makes people uncertain.

Physical intimacy is essential. No matter how old are you, it's extremely important.

If the love is true, then treat it the same way you would plant - feed it, protect it from the elements - you must do absolutely everything you can. But if it isn't true, then it's best to just let it wither on the vine.

I'm scared. What are we doing here, in this place?" I ask.
"Oh, it's always like this, we're just living our lives".

If not kept in check, night-time thoughts are prone to amplification.

No, little boys are much wimpier than little girls.

The number of kiwis was increasing by the minute. When I looked about me, there were dozens of them, all identical, and each one fired off a question to me in turn.

How could anyone endure such a state, of having someone there and not there - not there and there - at the same time?

I felt a sudden rush of warmth in my body, and felt the tears well up once again. But I didn't cry. It's always better to drink than to cry.

In loneliness I have drifted this long way, alone.
My torn and shabby robe could not keep out the cold.
And tonight the sky was so clear
it made my heart ache all the more.

I rode the bus alone, I walked around the city alone, I did my shopping alone, and I drank alone.

Forcing myself to make conversation felt like standing on a cliff, peering over the edge, about to tumble down headfirst.