Quintessential Murakami Quotes

Tsukuru didn't know what to say. The strength drained out of him. Like water leaking from a small hole in a bag. ~ Haruki Murakami

What do you think? I'm not a starfish or a pepper tree. I'm a living, breathing human being. Of course I've been in love. ~ Haruki Murakami

Writers have to keep on writing if they want to mature, like caterpillars endlessly chewing on leaves. ~ Haruki Murakami

Can I be honest with you, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? I mean, really, really, really honest? Sometimes I get sooo scared! I'll wake up in the middle of the night all alone, hundreds of miles away from anybody, and it's pitch dark, and I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen to me in the future, and I get so scared I want to scream. Does that happen to you, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? When it happens, I try to remind myself that I am connected to others - other things and other people. I work as hard as I can to list their names in my head. On that list, of course, is you, Mr. Wind-Up Bird. And the alley, and the well, and the persimmon tree, and that kind of thing. And the wigs that I've made here with my own hands. And the little bits and pieces I remember about the boy. All these little things (though you're not just another one of those little things, Mr. Wind-Up Bird, but anyhow ... ) help me to come back "here" little by little. ~ Haruki Murakami

We used to spend hours talking. We never got tired of talking, never raun out of topics - novels, the world, scenery, language. Our conversations were more open and intimate than ane lovers'. ~ Haruki Murakami

It's like when you put instant rice pudding mix in a bowl in the microwave and push the button, and you take the cover off when it rings, and there you've got ricing pudding. I mean, what happens in between the time when you push the switch and when the microwave rings? You can't tell what's going on under the cover. Maybe the instant rice pudding first turns into macaroni gratin in the darkness when nobody's looking and only then turns back into rice pudding. We think it's only natural to get rice pudding after we put rice pudding mix in the microwave and the bell rings, but to me, that is just a presumption. I would be kind of relieved if, every once in a while, after you put rice pudding mix in the microwave and it rang and you opened the top, you got macaroni gratin. I suppose I'd be shocked, of course, but I don't know, I think I'd be kind of relieved too. Or at least I think I wouldn't be so upset, because that would feel, in some ways, a whole lot more real. ~ Haruki Murakami

I'm kind of a low-key guy. The spotlight doesn't suit me. I'm more of a side dish
cole slaw or French fries or a Wham! backup singer. ~ Haruki Murakami

I have no physical symptoms, but psychologically there's this burden. I've got to get rid of it somehow. Of course, when I first went back to work I was scared the same thing might happen again. It takes positive thinking to overcome fear, otherwise you'll carry around this victim mentality forever. ~ Haruki Murakami

I think I'll stay alive here a bit longer, and see with my own eyes what's going to happen. I can still die after that - it won't be too late. Probably. ~ Haruki Murakami

And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in a while, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. ~ Haruki Murakami

Some things can only be done in exchange for life," the man said. ~ Haruki Murakami

The things we try our hardest not to lose, we really just put deep abysses in the spaces between them. ~ Haruki Murakami

Obviously it took much longer to come here than to go to Nagoya, but he felt no different that when he'd gone back to his hometown. Only the currency in his wallet had changed. ~ Haruki Murakami

If you really want to know something, you have to be willing to pay the price. ~ Haruki Murakami

I miss you terribly sometimes, but in general I go on living with all the energy I can muster. Just as you take care of the birds and the fields every morning, every morning I wind my own spring. I give it some 36 good twists by the time I've got up, brushed my teeth, shaved, eaten breakfast, changed my clothes, left the dorm, and arrived at the university. I tell myself, "OK, let's make this day another good one." I hadn't noticed before, but they tell me I talk to myself a lot these days. Probably mumbling to myself while I wind my spring. ~ Haruki Murakami

I'm not doing anything that is going to destroy my. Stillm there is something quiet left behind. Like sediment in a bottle of wine. ~ Haruki Murakami

Wrapped in the deep fragrance of the forest, I listen to the flapping of the birds' wings, to the stirring of the ferns. I'm freed from gravity and float up
just a little
from the ground and drift in the air. Of course I can't stay there forever. It's just a momentary sensation
open my eyes and it's gone. Still, it's an overwhelming experience. Being able to float in the air. ~ Haruki Murakami

I'm a writer. I don't support any war. That's my principle. ~ Haruki Murakami

Here, there is nothing my size. There's nobody around here to make himself the measure of everything, to praise or condemn others for their size ~ Haruki Murakami

A spider has no special skills other than building its web, and no lifestyle choice other than sitting still. ~ Haruki Murakami

As long as possible, I would really like to complete one marathon per year. Though my time has been slowing down as I get older, it has become a very important part of my life. ~ Haruki Murakami

I find what's pure and clean and see that it gets all mucked up. But that's what people call information. And when you dredge up every bit of dirt from every corner of the living environment, that's what you call enhanced information. ~ Haruki Murakami

Everyone just keeps on disappearing. Some things vanish, like they were cut away. Others fade slowly into the mist. And all that remains is a desert. ~ Haruki Murakami

Of course, she must be sleeping, sleeping deeply, wrapped in the darkness of that strange little world of hers. ~ Haruki Murakami

Kangaroos give birth to only one baby at a time. So as soon as one baby is born, the female gets pregnant again. Otherwise the kangaroo population would never sustain itself. This means the female kangaroo spends her entire life either pregnant or nursing babies. If she's not pregnant, she's nursing babies; if she's not nursing babies, she's pregnant. You could say she exists just to ensure the continuance of the species. The kangaroo species wouldn't survive if there weren't any kangaroos, and if their purpose wasn't to go on existing, kangaroos wouldn't be around in the first place. ~ Haruki Murakami

I felt as if I had become part of a badly written novel, that someone was taking me to task for being utterly unreal. And perhaps it was true. ~ Haruki Murakami

New York in November really does have a special charm to it. The air is clear and crisp, and the leaves on the trees in Central Park are just beginning to turn golden. The sky is so clear you can see forever, and the skyscrapers lavishly reflect the sun's rays. You feel you can keep on walking one block after another without end. Expensive cashmere coats fill the windows at Bergdorf Goodman, and the streets are filled with the delicious smell of roasted pretzels. ~ Haruki Murakami

Like dark, soft water, sadness took over Aomame's heart, soundlessly, and with no warning. ~ Haruki Murakami

There is absolutely nothing to be gained from sleeping with one strange woman after another. It just tires you out and makes you disgusted with yourself. ~ Haruki Murakami

Nature is actually unnatural ~ Haruki Murakami

Life is here, death is over there. I am here, not over there. ~ Haruki Murakami

Opera lovers may be the narrowest people in the world. ~ Haruki Murakami

Eventually, when the first phase of the process ended, she began to cry. She cried quietly, even silently, burring her face in her hands, her shoulder quivering, as if she wanted to be sure that no one else in the world could tell that she was crying. ~ Haruki Murakami

He was going to die soon, you knew when you saw those eyes. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest traces of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated old house from which all furniture and fixtures have been removed and which awaited now only its final demolition. ~ Haruki Murakami

I stayed in the town until early
evening, and when the sun began to sink, my heart did too. This is your last chance to go
back, I told myself. Once it gets completely dark, you might never be able to leave here. I
went home on the same buses that had brought me there. I arrived before seven, and no one
noticed that I had run away. ~ Haruki Murakami