Haruki Murakami

An expectation was there, mixed in with so many other emotions - excitement, resignation, hesitation, confusion, fear - that would well up then wither on the vine. You're optimistic one moment, only to be racked the next by the certainty that it will all fall to pieces. And in the end it does.

Let the world move along as it pleased. If it had any business with him, it would be sure to tell him.

It is not that the meaning cannot be explained. But there are certain meanings that are lost forever the moment they are explained in words.

I was dying. Like all the other people who live in this world.

Things can be seen better in the darkness," he said, as if he had just seen into her mind. "But the longer you spend in the dark, the harder it becomes to return to the world aboveground where the light is

She was hearing everything that went on in his heart, like a person who can trace a map with his fingertip and conjure up vivid, living scenery.

I’m me, and at the same time not me. That’s what it felt like. A very still, quiet feeling.

If there’s something I can’t do but want to, I won’t relax until I’m able to do it.

It doesn’t matter how old I get, but as long as I continue to live I’ll always discover something new about myself.

She was, if anything, on the plain side, at least not the type to attract men wherever she went. But there was something in her face that was meant for me alone. Everytime we met, I took a good look at her. And loved what I saw.

As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around.

If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.

When there's nothing to do, you do nothing slowly and intently.

Her cry was the saddest sound of orgasm that I had ever heard.

A certain something, he felt, had managed to work its way in through a tiny opening and was trying to fill a blank space inside him. The void was not one that she had made. It had always been there inside him. She had merely managed to shine a special light on it.

Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There's only one reality.

It's the same with menus and men and just about anything else: we think we're choosing things for ourselves, but in fact we may not be choosing anything. It could be that everthing's being decided in advance and we pretend we're making choices. Free will may be an illusion. I often think that.

Genius or fool, you don't live in the world alone. You can hide underground or you can build a wall around yourself, but somebody's going to come along and screw up the works.

Shakespeare said it best,' Tamaru said quietly as he gazed at that lumpish, misshapen head. 'Something along these lines: if we die today, we do not have to die tomorrow, so let us look to the best in each other

Maybe it's just hiding somewhere. Or gone on a trip to come home. But falling in love is always a pretty crazy thing. It might appear out of the blue and just grab you. Who knows — maybe even tomorrow.

You throw a stone into a deep pond. Splash. The sound is big, and it reverberates throughout the surrounding area. What comes out of the pond after that? All we can do is stare at the pond, holding our breath.