Never trust a man who carries a handkerchief, I always say. One of many prejudicial rules of thumb.

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.

The ones with no imagination are always the quickest to justify themselves.

..finally he was just another ant, working and working until he died without meaning.

You’re really cute, Midori,” I corrected myself. “What do you mean really cute?” “So cute the mountains crumble and the oceans dry up.

My only passions were books and music. As you might guess, I led a lonely life… Not that I knew what I wanted in life - I didn’t. I loved reading novels to distraction, but didn’t write well enough to be a novelist; being an editor or a critic was out, too, since my tastes ran to the extremes. Novels should be for pure personal enjoyment, I decided, not part of your work or study. That’s why I didn’t study literature

When someone is trying very hard to get something, they don't. And when they're running away from something as hard as they can, it usually catches up with them.