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d4d56f4
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Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off.
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Haruki Murakami |
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4f57941
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Wasn't it better if they kept this desire to see each other hidden within them, and never actually got together? That way, there would always be hope in their hearts. That hope would be a small, yet vital flame that warmed them to their core-- a tiny flame to cup one's hands around and protect from the wind, a flame that the violent winds of reality might easily extinguish.
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Haruki Murakami |
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2368220
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I'm often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. I always ponder the question. What exactly do I think about when I'm running? I don't have a clue.
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inspirational
running
memoir
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Haruki Murakami |
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a3be0bd
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Holding this soft, small living creature in my lap this way, though, and seeing how it slept with complete trust in me, I felt a warm rush in my chest. I put my hand on the cat's chest and felt his heart beating. The pulse was faint and fast, but his heart, like mine, was ticking off the time allotted to his small body with all the restless earnestness of my own.
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life
cats
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Haruki Murakami |
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e4a87b5
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When I'm running I don't have to talk to anybody and don't have to listen to anybody. This is a part of my day I can't do without.
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Haruki Murakami |
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2bed897
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kl m knt 'rydh hw 'n ytrkwny 'Hy bslm fy rkny 'qr' rwyty.
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Haruki Murakami |
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390ac57
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We each have a special something we can get only at a special time of our life. like a small flame. A careful, fortunate few cherish that flame, nurture it, hold it as a torch to light their way. But once that flame goes out, it's gone forever.
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once-in-a-lifetime
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Haruki Murakami |
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44f5635
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I'll never see them again. I know that. And they know that. And knowing this, we say farewell.
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separation
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Haruki Murakami |
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e4845a2
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No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.
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time-passing
oblivion
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Haruki Murakami |
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368a86c
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Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in fight, searching the skies for dreams.
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Haruki Murakami |
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d1429ff
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With my eyes closed, I would touch a familiar book and draw its fragrance deep inside me. This was enough to make me happy.
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reading
happiness
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Haruki Murakami |
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1bd47a6
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As long as there's such a thing as time, everybody's damaged in the end, changed into something else. It always happens, sooner or later.
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Haruki Murakami |
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cb93278
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When people tell a lie about something, they have to make up a bunch of lies to go with the first one. 'Mythomania' is the word for it.
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people
society
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Haruki Murakami |
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ac34d89
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For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself. At least that's why I've put in the effort day after day: to raise my own level. I'm no great runner, by any means. I'm at an ordinary - or perhaps more like mediocre - level. But that's not the point. The point is whether or not I improved over yesterday. In long-distance runn..
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self
running
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Haruki Murakami |
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d93278a
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Kumiko and I felt something for each other from the beginning. It was not one of those strong, impulsive feelings that can hit two people like an electric shock when they first meet, but something quieter and gentler, like two tiny lights traveling in tandem through a vast darkness and drawing imperceptibly closer to each other as they go. As our meetings grew more frequent, I felt not so much that I had met someone new as that I had chance..
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Haruki Murakami |
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40f0a00
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Life is so uncertain: you never know what could happen. One way to deal with that is to keep your pajamas washed.
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Haruki Murakami |
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7713f44
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There are some things about myself I can't explain to anyone. There are some things I don't understand at all. I can't tell what I think about things or what I'm after. I don't know what my strengths are or what I'm supposed to do about them. But if I start thinking about these things in too much detail the whole thing gets scary. And if I get scared I can only think about myself. I become really self-centered, and without meaning to, I hur..
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Haruki Murakami |
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d679f22
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Please remember: things are not what they seem.
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Haruki Murakami |
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0cf13ee
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It's just that you're about to do something out of the ordinary. And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality.
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reality
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Haruki Murakami |
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e1d30cb
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Even so, there were times I saw freshness and beauty. I could smell the air, and I really loved rock 'n' roll. Tears were warm, and girls were beautiful, like dreams. I liked movie theaters, the darkness and intimacy, and I liked the deep, sad summer nights.
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sadness
darkness
music
movie-theatres
summer-nights
freshness
smell
rock-and-roll
girls
tears
summer
intimacy
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Haruki Murakami |
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8bf92b7
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A gentleman is someone who does not what he wants to do, but what he should do.
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motivational
inspirational
gentlemen
gentleman
chivalry
manners
politeness
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Haruki Murakami |
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f335f1c
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Lots of different ways to live and lots of different ways to die. But in the end that doesn't make a bit of difference. All that remains is a desert.
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Haruki Murakami |
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2855b6d
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I wonder what ants do on rainy days?
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norwegian-wood
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haruki murakami |
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1722298
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Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come.
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Haruki Murakami |
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830de2e
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Time expands, then contracts, all in tune with the stirrings of the heart.
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time
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Haruki Murakami |
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602a085
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People fall in love without reason, without even wanting to. You can't predict it. That's love.
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Haruki Murakami |
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bc7a2c7
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Hey, Mr. Nakata. Gramps. Fire! Flood! Earthquake! Revolution! Godzilla's on the loose! Get !
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Haruki Murakami |
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7ded703
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I guess I've been waiting so long I'm looking for perfection. That makes it tough." "Waiting for perfect love?" "No, even I know better than that. I'm looking for selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortcake. And you stop everything you're doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on your knees and hold this strawberry shortcake out to me. And I say I don't want it anymore and ..
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Haruki Murakami |
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83cd52d
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Maybe I am fated to always be alone, Tsukuru found himself thinking. People came to him, but in the end they always left. They came, seeking something, but either they couldn't find it, or were unhappy with what they found (or else they were disappointed or angry), and then they left. One day, without warning, they vanished, with no explanation, no word of farewell. Like a silent hatchet had sliced the ties between them, ties through which ..
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Haruki Murakami |
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e63446d
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Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that.
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Haruki Murakami |
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f3d29ea
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Never let fear and stupid pride make you lose someone who's precious to you.
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Haruki Murakami |
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1631f85
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I go back to the reading room, where I sink down in the sofa and into the world of The Arabian Nights. Slowly, like a movie fadeout, the real world evaporates. I'm alone, inside the world of the story. My favourite feeling in the world.
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Haruki Murakami |
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19300c4
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What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past.
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Haruki Murakami |
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0156cc7
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We're so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past, like ancient stars that have burned out, are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about every day, too many new things we have to learn. New styles, new information, new technology, new terminology ... But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign ..
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Haruki Murakami |
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7aa65dc
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Deep rivers run quiet.
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life
love
shyness
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Haruki Murakami |
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393785c
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I've built a wall around me, never letting anybody inside and trying not to venture outside myself
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Haruki Murakami |
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a6967cc
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If you never noticed, it never happened.
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Haruki Murakami |
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e409361
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Hey, what is it with you? Why are you so spaced out? You still haven't answered me." I probably still haven't completely adapted to the world," I said after giving it some thought. "I don't know, I feel like this isn't the real world. The people, the scene: they just don't seem real to me." Midori rested an elbow on the bar and looked at me. "There was something like that in a Jim Morrison song, I'm pretty sure." People are strange when you..
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norwegian-wood
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Haruki Murakami |
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f25fa5a
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But if something did happen, it happened. Whether it's right or wrong. I accept everything that happens, and that's how I became the person I am now.
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Haruki Murakami |
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9535e1a
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I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.
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trust
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Haruki Murakami |
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72f0659
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How much do you love me?' Midori asked. 'Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter,' I said.
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Haruki Murakami |
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025e39a
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It's like when you put instant rice pudding mix in a bowl in the microwave and push the button, and you take the cover off when it rings, and there you've got ricing pudding. I mean, what happens in between the time when you push the switch and when the microwave rings? You can't tell what's going on under the cover. Maybe the instant rice pudding first turns into macaroni gratin in the darkness when nobody's looking and only then turns bac..
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Haruki Murakami |
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5cd0bef
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In certain areas of my life, I actively seek out solitude. Especially for someone in my line of work, solitude is, more or less, an inevitable circumstance. Sometimes, however, this sense of isolation, like acid spilling out of a bottle, can unconsciously eat away at a person's heart and dissolve it. You could see it, too, as a kind of double-edged sword. It protects me, but at the same time steadily cuts away at me from the inside.
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Haruki Murakami |
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b9e4e8f
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Mediocrity's like a spot on a shirt--it never comes off.
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Haruki Murakami |