I hurt myself deeply, though at the time I had no idea how deeply. I should have learned many things from that experience, but when I look back on it, all I gained was one single, undeniable fact. That ultimately I am a person who can do evil. I never consciously tried to hurt anyone, yet good intentions notwithstanding, when necessity demanded, I could become completely self-centred, even cruel. I was the kind of person who could, using some plausible excuse, inflict on a person I cared for a wound that would never heal.

Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.

No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That's all.

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.

Life doesn't require ideals. It requires standards of action.

You make do with what you have. As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have.

If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.