I found a Bill Evans record in the bookcase and was listening to it while drying my hair when I realized that it was the record I had played in Naoko's room on the night of her birthday, the night she cried and I took her in my arms. That had happened only six months earlier, but it felt like something from a much remoter past. Maybe it felt that way because I had thought about it so often-too often, to the point where it had distorted my sense of time.
Haruki MurakamiNothing in the real world is as beautiful as the illusions of a person about to lose consciousness.
Haruki MurakamiWhen I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.
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