You like to write. It's the single most important quality for someone who wants to be a writer. But not in itself enough.

Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language.

Sex is an extremely subtle undertaking, unlike going to the department store on a Sunday to buy a thermos.

The ground we stand on looks solid enough, but if something happens it can drop right out from under you.

I want to write stories that are different from the ones I've written so far, Junpei thought: I want to write about people who dream and wait for the night to end, who long for the light so they can hold the ones they love. But right now I have to stay here and keep watch over this woman and this girl. I will never let anyone-not anyone-try to put them into that crazy box- not even if the sky should fall or the earth crack open with a roar.

It's a quiet place, so people talk quietly," said Naoko. She made a neat pile of fish bones at the edge of her plate and dabbed at her mouth with a handkerchief. "There's no need to raise your voice here. You don't have to convince anybody of anything, and you don't have to attract anyone's attention.

When you fall in love, the natural thing to do is give yourself to it.