1
2
3
5
8
12
20
33
52
83
133
213
340
543
867
1384
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
2208
3346
3522
5443
5619
6757
7581
8098
8422
8625
8752
8832
8882
8913
8932
8945
8953
8957
8960
8962
8963
8964
8965
▲
▼
| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| a7bc8a1 | If a mother was Sacrifice personified, then a daughter was Guilt, with no possibility of redress. | Milan Kundera | ||
| 53bbcbd | Sensuality is the total mobilization of the senses: an individual observes his partner intently, straining to catch every sound. | love senses sensuality | Milan Kundera | |
| fb62b25 | A man may ask anything of a woman, but unless he wishes to behave like a brute, he must make it possible for her to act in harmony with her deepest self-deceptions. | Milan Kundera | ||
| ac3a440 | If you criticize what you're doing too early you'll never write the first line." [ | creative-writing criticism self-confidence self-critique writing | Max Frisch | |
| 8b80c86 | Ah? A small aversion to menial labor?" The doctor cocked an eyebrow. "Understandable, but misplaced. One should treasure those hum-drum tasks that keep the body occupied but leave the mind and heart unfettered." | imagination labor my-life-story treasures | Tad Williams | |
| ea1e422 | Most people trusted in the future, assuming that their preferred version of it would unfold. | fate future | Jhumpa Lahiri | |
| 2d3fe0d | The knowledge of death seemed present in both sisters--it was something about the way they carried themselves, something that had broken too soon and had not mended, marking them in spite of their lightheartedness. | sisterhood sisters | Jhumpa Lahiri | |
| e1a4edc | Where are you now?' Where was I now? Gripping the receiver, I raised my hand and turned to see what lay beyond the telephone booth. Where was I now? I had no idea. No idea at all. Where was this place? All that flashed into my eyes were the countless shapes of people walking by to nowhere. Again and again, I called out for Midori from the dead center of this place that was no place. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| dab80c8 | Properly speaking, should any individual ever have exact, clear knowledge of his own core consciousness?" "I wouldn't know," I said. "Nor would we," said the scientists." | Haruki Murakami | ||
| d50c894 | From now on, little by little, you must prepare yourself to face death. If you devote all of your future energy to living, you will not be able to die well. You must begin to shift gears, a little at a time. Living and dying are, in a sense, of equal value. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| a8c0c88 | Why do you read books?" he asked. "Why do you drink beer?" I replied without glancing in his direction," | Haruki Murakami | ||
| f02246a | Being all alone is like the feeling you get when you stand at the mouth of a large river on a rainy evening and watch the water flow into the sea. Have you ever done that? Stand at the mouth of a large river and watch the water flow into the sea? | loneliness rain river sea water | Haruki Murakami | |
| 3711af1 | let the wind change direction a little bit, and their cries turned to whispers. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 45447f2 | Spending plenty of time on something can be the most sophisticated form of revenge. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| e63b9b0 | You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without despair or loss, there is no hope. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| fa6cf2c | Let your body work until it is spent, but keep your mind for yourself. | mind work | Haruki Murakami | |
| cd5c10c | As with marathon runs and lengths of toilet paper, there had to be standards to measure up to. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 5c6dedf | I think certain types of processes don't allow for any variation. If you have to be part of that process, all you can do is transform--or perhaps distort--yourself through that persistent repetition, and make that process a part of your own personality. | work-ethic | Haruki Murakami | |
| 2387998 | What do we talk about? Just ordinary things. What happened today, or books we've read, or tomorrow's weather, you know. Don't tell me you're wondering if people jump to their feet and shout stuff like 'It'll rain tomorrow if a polar bear eats the stars tonight! | Haruki Murakami | ||
| aefb56e | I find myself thinking about my ongoing existence as a human being and the path that lies ahead of me. Though of course these thoughts lead to but one place - death. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 994ad98 | I wish there was a machine that could accurately measure sadness, and display it in numbers that you could record. And it would be great if that machine could fit in the palm of your hand. I think of this every time I measure the air in my tires. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 4ffdb37 | Someone once said that nothing costs more and yields less benefit than revenge," Aomame said. "Winston Churchill. As I recall it, though, he was making excuses for the British Empire's budget deficits. It has no moral significance." | morals murakami revenge | Haruki Murakami | |
| 724271b | Can I be honest with you, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? I mean, really, really, really honest? Sometimes I get sooo scared! I'll wake up in the middle of the night all alone, hundreds of miles away from anybody, and it's pitch dark, and I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen to me in the future, and I get so scared I want to scream. Does that happen to you, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? When it happens, I try to remind myself that I am connected to other.. | loneliness scared | Haruki Murakami | |
| c271779 | But it has finally hit me: she is neither a concept nor a symbol nor a metaphor. She actually exists: she has warm flesh and a spirit that moves. I never should have lost sight of that warmth and that movement. | iq84 love murakami | Haruki Murakami | |
| 22abd6b | I want to write stories that are different from the ones I've written so far, Junpei thought: I want to write about people who dream and wait for the night to end, who long for the light so they can hold the ones they love. But right now I have to stay here and keep watch over this woman and this girl. I will never let anyone-not anyone-try to put them into that crazy box- not even if the sky should fall or the earth crack open with a roar. | love | Haruki Murakami | |
| 942c38d | It's basically the same in all periods of societies. If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.' 'And those troubling things are all you /can/ think about when you're one of the few.' 'That's about the size of it,' she said mournfully. 'But maybe, if you're in a situation like that, you learn to think for yourself.' 'Yes, but maybe what you end up thinking for yourself /about/ is all those troublin.. | conversation social-commentary | Haruki Murakami | |
| 80ac715 | Wherever there's hope there's a trial. You're exactly right. Absolutely. Hope, however, is limited, and generally abstract, while there are countless trials, and they tend to be concrete. That is also something I had to learn on my own. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 360de3c | Some people can work their butts off and never get what they're aiming for while others can get it without any effort at all. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 46c8317 | As usual, Junko thought about Jack London's 'To Build a Fire.' It was the story of a man traveling alone through the snowy Alaskan interior and his attempts to light a fire. He would freeze to death unless he could make it catch. The sun was going down. Junko hadn't read much fiction, but that one short story she had read again and again, ever since her teacher had assigned it as an essay topic during summer vacation of her first year in hi.. | jack-london landscape-with-flatiron | Haruki Murakami | |
| df6a105 | Tolstoy's famous line, all happiness is alike, but each pain is painful in its own way. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 86577ed | I happen to like the strange ones. People who look normal and leads normal lives - they're the ones you have to watch out for. | weirdos | Haruki Murakami | |
| 59582eb | We returned to the hotel and had intercourse. I like that word . It poses only a limited range of possibilities. | sex | Haruki Murakami | |
| e507ac8 | The passage of time will usually extract the venom of most things and render them harmless | Haruki Murakami | ||
| cf2c00a | Pero, en este mundo, nada hay tan cruel como la desolacion de no desear nada. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| aafb21c | I tell lies sometimes. The last time I lied was a year ago. I absolutely detest lying. You could say that lying and silence are the two greatest sins of present day society. Actually, I lie a lot, and I'm always clamming up. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 6559225 | As Duke Ellington once said, "There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind." In that sense, jazz and classical music are fundamentally the same. The pure joy one experiences listening to "good" music transcends questions of genre." | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 9602a49 | There are all kinds of things we have to deal with in life," Eri finally said. "And one thing always seems to connect with another. You try to solve one problem, only to find that another one you hadn't anticipated arises instead. It's not that easy to get free of them." | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 7a7af47 | Reality was one step out of line, a cardigan with the buttons done up wrong. | humor | Haruki Murakami | |
| bb2f16c | You mean, if you knew me better, you'd force stuff on me like everybody else? Toru: It's possible," I said. "That's how people live in the real world: forcing stuff on each other. Midori: You wouldn't do that. I can tell. I'm an expert when it comes to forcing stuff and having stuff forced on you. You're just not that type. That's why I can relax with you. Do you have any idea how many people there are in the world who like to force stuff o.. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 60a64a4 | The Earth, after all, doesn't creak and groan its way around the sun just so human beings can have a good time and a bit of a laugh. | Haruki Murakami | ||
| 88eb3ab | I'm a poor audience for my memory. She wants me to attend her voice nonstop, but I fidget, fuss, listen and don't, step out, come back, then leave again. She wants all my time and attention. She's got no problem when I sleep. The day's a different matter, which upsets her. She thrusts old letters, snapshots at me eagerly, stirs up events both important and un-, turns my eyes to overlooked views, peoples them with my dead. In her stories I'm.. | past poetry | Wisława Szymborska | |
| bd6567f | Oh, Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations. Thou art Everywhere, but I worship thee here: Thou art without form, but I worship thee in these forms; Thou needest no praise, yet I offer thee these prayers and salutations. | M. M. Kaye | ||
| ceea624 | They don't know it, but the wrath of the Lord is about to descend upon them. | Larry McMurtry | ||
| ab74e94 | I undid the wrappings with great curiosity, for Holmes did not normally give gifts. I opened the dark velvet jeweller's box and found inside a shiny new set of picklocks, a younger version of his own. "Holmes, ever the romantic. Mrs. Hudson would be pleased." | humor romance sherlock-holmes | Laurie R. King |