It is a lonely life sometimes, like throwing a stone into the deep darkness. It might hit something, but you canโt see it. The only thing you can do is to guess, and to believe.
Haruki MurakamiMere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.
Haruki MurakamiI never could stand being forced to do something I didn't want to do at a time I didn't want to do it. Whenever I was able to do something I liked to do, though, when I wanted to do it, and the way I wanted to do it, I'd give it everything I had.
Haruki MurakamiI'm not sure if I could tell the differenceโbetween just staring into space and thinking. We're usually thinking all the time, aren't we? Not that we live in order to think, but the opposite isn't true eitherโthat we think in order to live. I believe, contrary to Descartes, that we sometimes think in order not to be. Staring into space might unintentionally have the opposite effect.
Haruki MurakamiEven when I ran my bar I followed the same policy. A lot of customers came to the bar. If one in ten enjoyed the place and said he'd come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it another way, it didn't matter if nine out of ten didn't like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place.
Haruki Murakami