I began to draw an invisible boundary between myself and other people. No matter who I was dealing with. I maintained a set distance, carefully monitoring the personโs attitude so that they wouldnโt get any closer. I didnโt easily swallow what other people told me. My only passions were books and music
Haruki MurakamiListen upโthereโs no war that will end all wars,โ Crow tells me. โWar breeds war. Lapping up the blood shed by violence, feeding on wounded flesh. War is a perfect, self-contained being. You need to know that.
Haruki MurakamiAt the entrance to the original tower, there is a stone into which Jung carved some words with his own hand: 'Cold or not, God is present.
Haruki MurakamiI've translated a lot of American literature into Japanese, and I think that what makes a good translator is, above all, a feel for language and also a great affection for the work you're translating. If one of those elements is missing the translation won't be worth much.
Haruki MurakamiA life without pain: it was the very thing I had dreamed of for years, but now that I had it, I couldnโt find a place for myself within it. A clear gap separated me from it, and this caused me great confusion. I felt as if I were not anchored to this world - this world that I had hated so passionately until then; this world that I had continued to revile for its unfairness and injustice; this world where at least I knew who I was. Now the world ceased to be the world, and I had ceased to be me.
Haruki MurakamiHow many Sundays - how many hundreds of Sundays like this - lay ahead of me? โQuiet, peaceful, and lonely,โ I said aloud to myself. On Sundays, I didn't wind my spring.
Haruki MurakamiIf writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. The two processes complement each other, creating a complete landscape that I treasure. The green foliage of the trees casts a pleasant shade over the earth, and the wind rustles the leaves, which are sometimes dyed a brilliant gold. Meanwhile, in the garden, buds appear on the flowers, and colorful petals attract bees and butterflies, reminding us of the subtle transition from one season to the next.
Haruki Murakami