Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.

Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.

I don’t go out of my way to make friends, that’s all.

Wasn’t it better if they kept this desire to see each other hidden within them, and never actually got together? That way, there would always be hope in their hearts. That hope would be a...

Of course it hurt that we could never love each other in a physical way. We would have been far more happy if we had. But that was like the tides, the change of seasons–something...

I don’t dream. Come to think of it, i haven’t had any dreams in a long time.

The Earth, time, concepts, love, life, faith justice, evil – they’re all fluid and in transition. They don’t stay in one form or in one place forever. The whole universe is like some big FedEx...

There is nothing in this world that never takes a step outside a person’s heart.

Exactly. When is comes to anything halfway important, you just don’t get it. It’s amazing to me that you can put a piece of fiction together”Yeah, well, that’s a whole different thing.'(from Honey Pie)

That’s the way it is with the mind. Nothing is ever equal. Like a river, as it flows, the course changes with the terrain.

He sometimes wondered if she had become involved with him just so that she could cry in someone’s arms. Maybe she can’t cry alone, and that’s why she needs me.

Writing a novel is like having a dream.

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a...

Deep rivers run quiet.

She was a keen observer, a precise user of language, sharp-tongued and funny. She could stir your emotions. Yes, really, that’s what she was so good at – stirring people’s emotions, moving you. And she...

All’s well that ends well.”Assuming there’s an end somewhere,’ Aomame said.Tamaru formed some short creases near his mouth that were faintly reminiscent of a smile. ‘There has to be an end somewhere. It’s just that...

The rain that fell on the city runs down the dark gutters and empties into the sea without even soaking the ground

Of course, reading novels was just another form of escape. As soon as he closed their pages he had to come back to the real world. But at some point Tengo noticed that returning to...

It’s basically the same in all periods of societies. If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.”And those troubling things are all you /can/ think about when you’re...

I never had what it takes to make a first-rate anything.”That’s wrong,’ she declared. ‘Everyone must have one thing that they can excel at. It’s just a matter of drawing it out, isn’t it?’ But...

As I run I tell myself to think of a river. And clouds. But essentially I’m not thinking of a thing. All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my...

I must be in love with this woman, Sumire realized with a start. Nomistake about it. Ice is cold; roses are red; I’m in love. And thislove is about to carry me off somewhere. This...

If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there’s salvation in life. Even if you can’t get together with that person.

People soon get tired of things that aren’t boring, but not of what is boring.

It’s like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.

The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky always. The clouds...

All you have to do is wait. Sit tight and wait for the right moment. Not try to change anything by force, just watch the drift of things. Make an effort to cast a fair...

A deaf composer’s like a cook who’s lost his sense of taste. A frog that’s lost its webbed feet. A truck driver with his license revoked. That would throw anybody for a loop, don’t you...

Many are the women who can take their clothes off seductively, but women who can charm as they dress?

At least you look as if you’re here. But maybe you aren’t. Maybe it’s just your shadow. The real you may be someplace else. Or maybe you already disappeared, a long, long time ago. I...

Passion can’t sustain itselfforever.

But still,” Ayumi said, “it seems to me that this world has a serious shortage of both logic and kindness.””You may be right,” Aomame said, “But it’s too late to trade it in for another...

Thinking about lunch. Smoked salmon with pedigreed lettuce and razor-sharp slices of onion that have been soaked in ice water, brushed with horseradish and mustard, served on French butter rolls baked in the hot ovens...

The world follows its own course. Each possesses his own thoughts, each treads his own path. So it is with your mother, and so it is with your starling. As it is with everyone. The...

The silence is so deep it hurts our ears

The power to concentrate was the most important thing. Living without this power would be like opening one’s eyes without seeing anything.

Ao longo da vida vamos descobrindo aos poucos quem somos na realidade e, à medida que o descobrimos, perdemos parte da nossa identidade.

Soy incapaz de sentir interés en novelas que no causen desconcierto a los lectores. Esto no quiere decir que intente desconcertarles o escribir algo difícil. Lo que quiero decir es que las novelas largas que...

You live by yourself for a stretch of time and you get to staring at different objects. Sometimes you talk to yourself. You take meals in crowded joints. You develop an intimate relationship with your...

But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that...

It’s like doughnut holes. Whether you take a doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one...

Oshima’s silent for a time as he gazes at the forest, eyes narrowed. Birds are flitting from one branch to the next. His hands are clasped behind his head. “I know how you feel,” he...

Talent can be a nice thing to have sometimes. You look good, attract attention, and if you’re lucky, you make some money. Women flock to you. In that sense, having talent’s preferable to having none....

Losing you is most difficult for me, but the nature of my love for you is what matters. If it distorts into half-truth, then perhaps it is better not to love you. I must keep...

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain....

That’s the kind of death that frightens me. The shadow of death slowly, slowly eats away at the region of life, and before you know it everything’s dark and you can’t see, and the people...

Writing things was important, wasn’t it? Nakata asked.’Yes, it was. The process of writing was important. Even though the finished product is completely meaningless.

Dreams come from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn’t control you–you should control them.

Vlinders zijn de meest vergankelijke, gracieuze schepsels ter wereld. Ze worden uit het niets geboren, verlangen stilletjes naar iets heel kleins en beperkts, om uiteindelijk weer als in het niets te verdwijnen.

When people tell a lie about something, they have to make up a bunch of lies to go with the first one. ‘Mythomania’ is the word for it.