You are 27 or 28 right? It is very tough to live at that age. When nothing is sure. I have sympathy with you.
Haruki MurakamiRead
If you miss the bus, miss the train, you’d be left behind. So everyone says, let’s get on the train, let’s get on the bus and go faster and get rich... I just didn’t like that kind of lifestyle. I love to read books, to listen to music.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of personal choice over societal pressure to pursue wealth and success.
In this quote, Haruki Murakami reflects on the societal expectations of constantly striving for success and the pursuit of wealth. He contrasts this lifestyle with his own preferences for enjoying life through reading and listening to music, suggesting that fulfillment comes from personal interests rather than external pressures. This expresses a philosophical viewpoint that values individual happiness over material gain, encouraging people to choose their own paths.
Themes
LifestyleHappinessSuccessIndividualityChoices
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about self-discovery and personal choices.
More from Haruki Murakami
All quotes →They take the circuits out of people’s brains that make it possible for them to think for themselves. Their world is like the one that George Orwell depicted in his novel. I’m sure you realize that there are plenty of people who are looking for exactly that kind of brain death. It makes life a lot easier. You don’t have to think about difficult things, just shut up and do what your superiors tell you to do.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.
Haruki MurakamiRead
I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Everybody burns out in this world; amateur, pro, it doesn't matter, they all burn out, they all get hurt, the OK guys and the not-OK guys both. That's why everybody takes out a little insurance. I've got some too, here at the bottom of the heap. That way, you manage to survive if you burn out. If you're all by yourself and don't belong anywhere, you go down once, and you're out. Finished.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Life is so uncertain: you never know what could happen. One way to deal with that is to keep your pajamas washed.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Similar quotes
God made yeast, as well as dough, and loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Throughout history many nations have suffered a physical defeat, but that has never marked the end of a nation. But when a nation has become the victim of a psychological defeat, then that marks the end of a nation.
Ibn KhaldunRead
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Synchronicity is choreographed by a great, pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature, and is manifest in each of us through intuitive knowledge.
Deepak ChopraRead
When we speak of our virtues we are competitors, when we confess our sins we become brothers.
Karl BarthRead
There is no heresy or no philosophy which is so abhorrent to the church as a human being.
James JoyceRead