Haruki Murakami

But I found that the longer you teach, the more you feel like a total stranger to yourself

In the world we live in, what we know and what we don't know are like Siamese twins, inseparable, existing in a state of confusion.

Kids' hearts are malleable, but once they gel it's hard to get them back the way they were.

Most young people were getting jobs in big companies, becoming company men. I wanted to be individual.

Since I have come to America, I am often asked whether my next novel will be set in America. I don't think it will. I think I will be living in America for some time to come, but while living in America, I would like to write about Japanese society from the outside.

Please think of me like an endangered species and just observe me quietly from far away. If you try to talk to me or touch me casually, I may get intimidated and bite you. So please be careful.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

I was enjoying myself writing, because I don't know what's going to happen when I take a ride around that corner. You don't know at all what you're going to find there. That can be thrilling when you read a book, especially when you're a kid and you're reading stories.

I try not to think about anything special while running. As a matter of fact, I usually run with my mind empty. However, when I run empty-minded, something naturally and abruptly crawls in sometime. That might become an idea that can help me with my writing.

I started writing at the kitchen table after midnight. It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to a publisher and I got some kind of prize, so it was like a dream - I was surprised to find it happening.

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It's a parallel thing in me.

George Orwell is half journalist, half fiction writer. I'm 100 percent fiction writer... I don't want to write messages. I want to write good stories. I think of myself as a political person, but I don't state my political messages to anybody.

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.

I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration.

I had my jazz club and I had enough money. So I didn't have to write for my living.

You have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical, people get bored. They are disappointed. They are expecting a more dynamic, creative, artistic thing to say. What I want to say is: you have to be practical.

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

I am worrying about my country. I feel I have a responsibility as a novelist to do something.

When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.

You have to dream intentionally. Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally.

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.