And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west. The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary. They should never have undertaken it, because they really and truly were each other's 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully.
Haruki MurakamiWhat was lost was lost. There was no retrieving it, however you schemed, no returning to how things were, no going back.
Haruki MurakamiThere were plenty of women around who dressed smartly, and plenty more who dressed to impress, but this girl was different. Totally different. She wore her clothing with such utter naturalness and grace that she could have been a bird that had wrapped itself in a special wind as it made ready to fly off to another world. He had never seen a woman who wore her clothes with such apparent joy. And the clothes themselves looked as if, in being draped on her body, they had won new life for themselves.
Haruki MurakamiI stare at this ceaseless, rushing crowd and imagine a time a hundred years from now. In a hundred years everybody here-me included-will have disappeared from the face of the earth and turned into ashes or dust. A weird thought, but everything in front of me starts to seem unreal, like a gust of wind could blow it all away.
Haruki MurakamiI do feel that Iโve managed to make something I could maybe call my worldโฆover timeโฆlittle by little. And when Iโm inside it, to some extent, I feel kind of relieved. But the very fact I felt I had to make such a world probably means that Iโm a weak person, that I bruise easily, donโt you think? And in the eyes of society at large, that world of mine is a puny little thing. Itโs like a cardboard house: a puff of wind might carry it off somewhere.
Haruki Murakami