I wrote letters in the classroom, I wrote letters at my desk at home with Seagull in my lap, I wrote letters at empty tables during my breaks at the Italian restaurant. It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.
Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language. Olga was absolutely right, Tsukuru thought as he sipped his wine. Not just to explain to others, but to explain to yourself. Force yourself to try to explain it, and you create lies.
Every person has his set routines when it comes to thinking and acting, and where there’s a routine, there’s a weak point.
Ha estratto le parole dai sogni, come si cattura una farfalla mentre vola, prendendola dolcemente per le ali.
Lots of different people appear, and they all have their own situations and reasons and excuses, and each one is pursuing his or her own idea of justice or happiness. As a result, nobody can do anything. Obviously. I mean, it’s basically impossible for everybody’s justice to prevail or everybody’s happiness to triumph, so chaos takes over.
Speaking frankly and speaking the truth are two different things entirely. Honesty is to truth as prow is to stern. Honesty appears first and truth appears last. The interval between varies in direct proportion to the size of ship. With anything of size, truth takes a long time in coming. Sometimes it only manifests itself posthumously. Therefore, should I impart you with no truth at this juncture, that is through no fault of mine. Nor yours.
There we were, sitting quietly on the edge of the world, and no one could see us. I just wanted to stay this way forever. I knew that was impossible – our life here was just a momentary illusion, and someday reality would yank us back to the world we came from.
Has your father ever gone to prison?” She shakes her head. “I don’t think so.” “Your mother?” “I don’t think so.” “You’re lucky. You should be grateful that’s never been a part of your life.” Takahashi smiles. “I don’t suppose you know that.” “Never thought about it.” “Most people don’t. I do.” Mari.
If talent’s the foundation you rely on, and yet it’s so unreliable that you have no idea what’s going to happen to it the next minute, what meaning does it have?
The moment I see her, there’s a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.
He had no itch to dig for glories Deep in the dirt that time has laid.
A gentleman doesn’t talk much about the taxes he paid, or the women he sleeps with.
And my inability to share this anger with anybody in the lobby aroused in me a profound sense of isolation.” – Toru Okada.
My self in the mirror is just a physical reflection.
We can’t undo what has already happened. Once something’s ruined, it can’t go back to the way it was.
But there’s such a thing as a way of living that’s guided by the way a person’s going to die.
No matter how tired the body gets, one must never let the exhaustion enter one’s thoughts.
It was only later, after he boarded the direct flight back to Narita and had buckled his seat belt, that the words came, the words he should have said. The right words always seemed to come too late.
You will be turning thirty soon, Mr. Kawana, which means that, from now on, you will gradually enter that twilight portion of life – you will be getting older.
I felt better for having met her.