A revelation leaps over the borders of the everyday. A life without revelation is no life at all. What you need to do is move from reason that ‘observes’ to reason that ‘acts’. That’s what critical.
The people I met in the classroom were less living beings than mere shadows crossing my path.
As with most people who are well raised, well educated, and financially secure, Dr. Tokai only thought of himself.
Crying for someone else is nothing to apologize about,” I told him. “Especially someone you care for, someone who’s passed away.
My flesh may have to be consumed, but my mind belongs to me. I’m keeping it for myself. I will not hand it over to anyone.
What I felt then was a deep terror. And a kind of hopelessness, a feeling that I could never run away from this thing, no matter how far I went. And this creature, this thing doesn’t give a damn that I’m me or you’re you. In its presence, all human beings lose their names and their faces. We all turn into signs, into numbers.
You can win as often as you like. But you can only lose once. Then it’s the end for you. And you will lose. The day is bound to come. I’ll be waiting, no matter how long it takes.
No two human beings are alike; it’s a question of identity. And what is identity? The cognitive system arisin’ from the aggregate memories of that individual’s past experiences. The layman’s word for this is the mind.
A hard-and-fast rule in business is to never accept the first offer.
Las cosas de este mundo siempre te salen por donde menos te esperas. Precisamente por eso es interesante vivir.
I’m caught between one void and another. I have no idea what’s right, what’s wrong. I don’t even know what I want any more.
Our lives really do seem strange and mysterious when you look back on them. Filled with unbelievably bizarre coincidences and unpredictable, zigzagging developments. While they are unfolding, it’s hard to see anything weird about them, no matter how closely you pay attention to your surroundings. In the midst of the everyday, these things may strike you as simply ordinary things, a matter of course. They might not be logical, but time has to pass before you can see if something is logical.
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
She looks like a symbol of something. A certain time, a certain place. A certain state of mind. She’s like a spirit that’s sprung up from a happy chance encounter. An eternal, naive innocence, never to be marred, floats around her like spores in spring.
He had read many books over the years, but he owned few. He tended to dislike filling his home with a lot of possessions. When he finished a book, unless it was something quite special, he would take it to a used-book store. He bought only books he knew he was going to read right away, and he would read the ones he cared about very closely, until they were ingrained in his mind. When he needed other books he would borrow them from the neighborhood library.
It’s really very simple. You sought me out. That’s the biggest reason.
There are lots of things ordinary people can do that I can’t. That’s for sure. Playing tennis, skiing, for instance. Working in a company, having a happy family. On the other hand, there are a few things I can do that most other people can’t. And I do these few things very, very well. I’m not expecting applause or for people to shower me with coins. But I do need to show the world what I’m capable of.
He kept his ears open and listened closely to what anyone else had to say, aiming to learn something from everything he heard. This habit eventually became a useful tool. Through this, he discovered a number of important realities, including this one: most people in the world don’t really use their brains to think. And people who don’t think are the ones who don’t listen to others.
The absence of conversation didn’t bother Kafuku. He wasn’t good at small talk. While he didn’t dislike talking to people he knew well about things that mattered, he otherwise preferred to remain silent.
There are people who drive luxury cars, but have only second- or third-rate sofas in their homes. I put little trust in such people.