Haruki Murakami Quotes

Real life is different from math. Things in life don’t necessarily flow over the shortest possible route.

Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won’t be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there – to the edge of the world. There’s something you can’t do unless you get there.

Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.

Letters are just pieces of paper. Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them, and what vanishes will vanish.

If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.

If you remember me, then I don’t care if everybody else forgets.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only a**holes do that.

Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what’s going on. In fact, things will be even worse the next time you open your eyes. That’s the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still.[to Mr. Nakata]

You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you.[repeated often in the rest of the book]

Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?

Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it’s time to drink.