When a writer develops a story, he is confronted with a poison that is inside him. If you don't have that poison, your story will be boring and uninspired. It's like fugu: The flesh of the pufferfish is extremely tasty, but the roe, the liver, the heart can be lethally toxic.
Haruki MurakamiSometimes we don't need words. Rather, it's words that need us. If we were no longer here, words would lose their whole function. They would end up as words that are never spoken, and words that aren't spoken are no longer words. - (Where I'm Likely To Find It)
Haruki MurakamiAn expectation was there, mixed in with so many other emotions - excitement, resignation, hesitation, confusion, fear - that would well up then wither on the vine. You're optimistic one moment, only to be racked the next by the certainty that it will all fall to pieces. And in the end it does.
Haruki MurakamiJudging the mistakes of strangers is an easy thing to do - and it feels pretty good.
Haruki MurakamiI laughed. โYouโre too young to be so โฆ pessimistic,โ I said, using the English word. โPessi-what?โ โPessimistic. It means looking only at the dark side of things.โ โPessimistic โฆ pessimistic โฆโ She repeated the English to herself over and over, and then she looked up at me with a fierce glare. โIโm only sixteen,โ she said, โand I donโt know much about the world, but I do know one thing for sure. If Iโm pessimistic, then the adults in this world who are not pessimistic are a bunch of idiots.
Haruki Murakami