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Haruki Murakami Quotes - Page 28

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Mountains, according to the angle of view, the season, the time of day, the beholder's frame of mind, or any one thing, can effectively change their appearance. Thus, it is essential to recognize that we can never know

Mountains, according to the angle of view, the season, the time of day, the beholder's frame of mind, or any one thing, can effectively change their appearance. Thus, it is essential to recognize that we can never know more than one side, one small aspect of a mountain.

Haruki Murakami
Views, Mind, Mountain
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Jun 29, 2016

If you listen to the radio for a whole hour there's maybe one decent song. The rest is mass-produced garbage

Haruki Murakami
Song, Radio, Garbage
Haruki Murakami (2011). “Dance Dance Dance”, p.112, Random House

I hurt myself deeply, though at the time I had no idea how deeply. I should have learned many things from that experience, but when I look back on it, all I gained was one single, undeniable fact. That ultimately I am a person who can do evil. I never consciously tried to hurt anyone, yet good intentions notwithstanding, when necessity demanded, I could become completely self-centred, even cruel. I was the kind of person who could, using some plausible excuse, inflict on a person I cared for a wound that would never heal.

Haruki Murakami
Hurt, Ideas, Self

I was twenty-one at the time, about to turn twenty-two. No prospect of graduating soon, and yet no reason to quit school. Caught in the most curiously depressing circumstances. For months I'd been stuck, unable to take one step in any new direction. The world kept moving on; I alone was at a standstill. In the autumn, everything took on a desolate cast, the colors swiftly fading before my eyes. The sunlight, the smell of the grass, the faintest patter of rain, everything got on my nerves.

Haruki Murakami
Depressing, Moving, Rain
"A Wild Sheep Chase". Book by Haruki Murakami, 1982.

These days I just can't seem to say what I mean [...]. I just can't. Every time I try to say something, it misses the point. Either that or I end up saying the opposite of what I mean. The more I try to get it right the more mixed up it gets. Sometimes I can't even remember what I was trying to say in the first place. It's like my body's split in two and one of me is chasing the other me around a big pillar. We're running circles around it. The other me has the right words, but I can never catch her.

Haruki Murakami
Running, Mean, Opposites
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Dec 26, 2013

Properly speaking, should any individual ever have exact, clear knowledge of his own core consciousness?" "I wouldn't know," I said. "Nor would we," said the scientists.

Haruki Murakami
Consciousness, Scientist, Individual
Haruki Murakami (1993). “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel”, Vintage

Strange and mysterious things, though, aren't they - earthquakes? We take it for granted that the earth beneath our feet is solid and stationary. We even talk about people being 'down to earth' or having their feet firmly planted on the ground. But suddenly one day we see that it isn't true. The earth, the boulders, that are supposed to be solid, all of a sudden turn as mushy as liquid - From the short story "Thailand

Haruki Murakami
Mysterious Things, Earthquakes, Feet
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Jul 02, 2015

I don't really know if it's the right thing to do, making new life. Kids grow up, generations take their place. What does it all come to? More hills bulldozed and more ocean fronts filled in? Faster cars and more cats run over? Who needs it?

Haruki Murakami
Running, Growing Up, Ocean
"A Wild Sheep Chase". Book by Haruki Murakami, 1982.

I tell lies sometimes. The last time I lied was a year ago. I absolutely detest lying. You could say that lying and silence are the two greatest sins of present day society. Actually, I lie a lot, and I'm always clamming up.

Haruki Murakami
Lying, Years, Two

I closed my eyes and listened carefully for the descendants of Sputnik, even now circling the earth, gravity their only tie to the planet. Lonely metal souls in the unimpeded darkness of space, they meet, pass each other, and part, never to meet again. No words passing between them. No promises to keep.

Haruki Murakami
Lonely, Eye, Space
Haruki Murakami (2011). “Sputnik Sweetheart”, p.196, Random House

From the girl who sat before me now...surged a fresh and physical life force. She was like a small animal that has popped into the world with the coming of spring. Her eyes moved like an independent organism with joy, laughter, anger, amazement, and despair. I hadn't seen a face so vivid and expressive in ages, and I enjoyed watching it live and move.

Haruki Murakami
Girl, Laughter, Spring

Love can rebuild the world, they say, so everything's possible when it comes to love.

Haruki Murakami
World
Haruki Murakami (2011). “Kafka On The Shore”, p.244, Random House

Tell me, Doctor, are you afraid of death?" "I guess it depends on how you die.

Haruki Murakami
Doctors, Afraid Of Death, Dies

Curiosity can bring guts out of hiding at times, maybe even get them going. But curiosity usually evaporates. Gust have to go for the long haul. Curiosity's like a fun friend you can't really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own - with whatever guts you can muster

Haruki Murakami
Fun, Long, Curiosity
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". Book by Haruki Murakami, books.google.ru. October 10, 2011.

Time, of course, topples everyone in its path equally- the way that driver beats his old horse until it dies. But the thrashing we receive is one of frightful gentleness. Few of us even realize that we are being beaten.

Haruki Murakami
Horse, Way, Path

An empty shell. Those were the first words that sprang to mind. .... Something incredibly important - .. - had disappeared from Miu for good. Leaving behind not life, but its absence

Haruki Murakami
Leaving, Mind, Important

I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.

Haruki Murakami
People, Never Trust, Appetite
Haruki Murakami (1993). “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel”, Vintage

Time is too conceptual. Not that it stops us from filling it in. So much so, we can't even tell whether our experiences belong to time or to the world of physical things.

Haruki Murakami
World, Filling, Physical Things
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Jun 12, 2015

Hatred is like a long, dark shadow. Not even the person it falls upon knows where it comes from, in most cases. It is like a two-edged sword. When you cut the other person, you cut yourself. The more violently you hack at the other person, the more violently you hack at yourself. It can often be fatal. But it is not easy to dispose of. Please be careful, Mr.Okada. It is very dangerous. Once it has taken root in your heart, hatred is the most difficult think in the world to shake off.

Haruki Murakami
Fall, Taken, Heart
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Nov 02, 2015

Whenever an occasion arose in which she needed an opinion on something in the wider world, she borrowed her husband's. If this had been all there was to her, she wouldn't have bothered anyone, but as is so often the case with such women, she suffered from an incurable case of of pretentiousness. Lacking any internalized values of her own, such people can arrive at a standpoint only by adopting other people's standards or views. The only principle that governs their minds is the question "How do I look?

Haruki Murakami
Husband, Views, People
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". Book by Haruki Murakami, 1997.

Then I noticed that my shadow was crying too, shedding clear, sharp shadow tears. Have you ever seen the shadows of tears, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? They’re nothing like ordinary shadows. Nothing at all. They come here from some other, distant world, especially for our hearts. Or maybe not. It struck me then that the tears my shadow was shedding might be the real thing, and the tears that I was shedding were just shadows. You don’t get it, I’m sure, Mr. Wind-Up Bird. When a naked seventeen-year-old girl is shedding tears in the moonlight, anything can happen. It’s true.

Haruki Murakami
Girl, Real, Heart

This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew what was coming.

Haruki Murakami
Important, May, Propositions

Time really is one big continuous cloth, no? We habitually cut out pieces of time to fit us, so we tend to fool ourselves into thinking that time is our size, but it really goes on and on.

Haruki Murakami
Cutting, Thinking, Pieces
FaceBook post by Haruki Murakami from Jul 07, 2015

It seems to me, though, that you always understand very well what I can't say very well. Trouble is I end up being even worse at saying things well.

Haruki Murakami
Trouble, Ends, Wells
"A Wild Sheep Chase". Book by Haruki Murakami, October 10, 2011.

I wasn't particularly afraid of death itself. As Shakespeare said, die this year and you don't have to die the next.

Haruki Murakami
Years, Next, Said
Haruki Murakami (1993). “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel”, Vintage

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