Murakami's books have been translated into 50 languages and are bestsellers around the world. It is not surprising, because they reflect numerous global trends, so the writer’s work is close to a huge number of people. At the same time, Haruki Murakami is not just a significant writer, but also a very extraordinary person. His thoughts on various things are worth getting acquainted with.
Quotes from books
About people and loneliness
1. “A person must at least once in his life find himself in the complete wilderness in order to physically experience loneliness, even if he is suffocating from boredom. To feel what it is like to depend solely on yourself, and in the end to know your essence and gain strength previously unknown.”
2. “Be you anyone: gay, lesbian, normal like most people, a feminist, a fascist pig, a communist, a Hare Krishna. Under any banner, please... This doesn’t concern me at all. What I can't stand are such hollow people. I can’t stand it when these idiots flash before my eyes.”
About music
3. “Playing music is almost the same as flying in the sky.”
About running
About business and choosing a profession
5. “A profession should initially be an act of love. And not a marriage of convenience.”
"Tokyo Legends".
6. “I have a rule: it’s stupid to spend more on rags than you need. Usually jeans and a sweater are enough. But in business I have a little philosophy: the manager should dress the way he would like to see the clients of his establishment. So both visitors and staff seem to be in a better mood, and a kind of internal tension arises. That’s why I always show up to my bars in an expensive suit and always have a tie.”
About the laws of life
7. “So, everything in the world is complex and at the same time very simple. This is the fundamental law that rules the world, he said. - You should always remember this. Things that seem complex and are actually so are very simple in essence if you understand what motives are behind them. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. Motive is, so to speak, the source of desire. It is important to find this source."
About food and sex
8. “For me, food is more important in life than sex. And sex is like a good dessert. When it’s there, it’s great; when it’s not, it’s not scary, you can do without it. And besides this, there is something to do.”
9. “It’s great when the food is delicious. It helps you feel alive."
Quotes from interviews
About childhood
10. “As a child, I loved three things. I loved to read. I loved music. I loved . And even taking into account that I was just a child, I could be happy because I knew that I loved. And these three passions have not changed since my childhood... So much for confidence. If you don't know what you love, you've lost."
11. “I have had many cats, but not one was filled with compassion. They were as selfish as they could be."
About wealth
12. “If you are more or less rich, the best thing about it is that you don’t have to think about money. The best thing you can buy is freedom, time. I don't know how much I earn. At all. I don't know how much taxes I pay. I don't want to think about taxes. I have an accountant and my wife takes care of all this. They don't burden me with this. I'm just working."
About reality
13. “I'm not religious. I only believe in imagination. And that there is not only this reality. The real world and that other, unreal world exist simultaneously. They are both very closely related and dependent on each other. Sometimes it happens that they are mixed. And if I really want it, if I concentrate enough, I can cross to the other side and come back.”
About creative inspiration
14. “When I write, I wake up early in the morning and turn on a vinyl record. Not very loud. After 10 or 15 minutes I forget about the music and just concentrate on what I'm writing."
15. “You can believe me - I am the most ordinary person. I am a good husband, I don’t raise my voice at anyone, I never lose my temper. But I don't take any creative ideas from my everyday life. When I run, cook or lie on the beach, not a single thought enters my head.”
16. “I live to the drumbeat of everyday things: washing, cooking, ironing. I like doing all this, it really frees my head from thoughts. Only when I am empty am I able to produce something.”
17. “I don't think of myself as an artist. I'm just a guy who can write. Yes".
18. “Sometimes I feel like a storyteller from prehistoric times. I imagine how people are sitting in a cave, they are trapped there, and it is raining outside. But I’m also there with them and telling them stories.”
About books and characters
19. “I like to put things into books that have nothing to do with the rest. If the work contains only what is “relevant,” it will become cramped and stuffy. And if you introduce one after another something that seems to be extraneous, you get the impression of a breath of fresh wind.”
20. “I am not able to make the reader think the way I might like. I simply do not have the right to believe that the reader should perceive my book in any way. We are at the same level, at the same height, so to speak. Because I am a writer, I cannot perceive the text “better” than the reader. If you see the text in your own way, then this is your personal relationship with the text, and I have nothing to object to this.”
21. “My characters relate to me only indirectly. They appear in the narrative and then live on their own. What I want to say is that the narrative and the world must be treated neutrally. If personal motives become present - be it a wife or children - the progress of the presentation will stall. Therefore, you should be neutral, look at everything from an impartial position, so that, if possible, there is no flavor of your own life. This is the position I choose for myself when I write.”
22. “My goal is The Brothers Karamazov. To write something like this is the peak, the peak. I read The Karamazovs at the age of 14–15 and have reread them four times since then. It was wonderful every time. In my opinion this is a perfect piece. From 14 to 20 I read only Russian literature. The closest were, of course, Dostoevsky's works. “The Demons” is a very powerful work, but “The Karamazovs” are unsurpassed.”
23. “The opinion that my prose is “not Japanese” seems very superficial to me. I myself consider myself a Japanese writer. Yes, at first I wanted to become an “international” writer, but over time I realized that I was a Japanese writer, and I couldn’t be anything else. But even at the beginning of this path, I didn’t want to just indiscriminately copy Western styles and rules. I wanted to change Japanese literature from the inside, not the outside. And he invented his own rules for this.”
About bad habits and exercises
24. “I don’t smoke anymore, I quit a long time ago. When I wrote “The Sheep Hunt,” I was still smoking. Then he quit, and in subsequent books there were much fewer smokers. As for - yes, whatever you want. But I don’t take strong drinks, because it makes me immediately fall asleep. In general, I go to bed every day at 9–10 o’clock and before going to bed I always drink a little.”
25. “I'm not really a fan of exercise. And I don't exercise to improve my health. Rather, we are talking about a kind of metaphysical mechanism. In this way I want to free myself from the body."
I saw a running arrow - which means the world was still spinning. It’s not such a wonderful world, but it still continued to spin. And because I realized that the world kept turning, I still lived in the world. Not such a wonderful life, but still lived. How strange it turns out, I thought: is it really only by the hands of the clock that people can verify that they exist? There must certainly be other ways of such “self-testing” in the world. However, no matter how hard I tried to think of something else, nothing else came to mind. »
Haruki Murakami, "Sheep Hunt"
« A new day is approaching, but the old one doesn’t want to give up its position yet. Like a river that flows into the sea, old time fights with new, pushing currents, twisting into whirlpools. »
Haruki Murakami, "After Dark"
« Each of us is a separate person. And at the same time, all of us, taken together, are a nameless part of a huge organism. A single something that forms part of something else. »
Haruki Murakami, "After Dark"
« A typical afternoon at the institute. However, while contemplating this landscape, this is what I thought. People look happy, each in their own way. I don't know if they are actually happy or just look that way. In any case, in the middle of a glorious afternoon in late September, people seemed happy, and I felt sadder than ever. It seemed that I alone did not fit into this landscape. »
Haruki Murakami, "Norwegian Wood"
« If a goal were set, a chain of trial and error would itself lead to the desired result. »
Haruki Murakami, Dance, Dance, Dance
« If we cannot tolerate something physiologically from the very beginning and experience a strong aversion to it, this something can often be a reflection of our own image. »
Haruki Murakami, "Underground"
« The most important thing is not the big thing that others have come up with, but the small thing that you yourself have come to. »
« Our life is like a carousel - we just spin in a certain place at a certain speed. Our rotation is not directed anywhere. Neither get out nor change seats. »
« Like any beautiful girl, raised in care and love, and as a result hopelessly spoiled, she masterfully and talentedly knew how to hurt the feelings of other people... »
Haruki Murakami, "Draw on the Carousel"
« The most important thing is not the big thing that others have come up with, but the small thing that you yourself have come to. »
« We only empirically believe that the image reflected in the mirror corresponds to the original. »
Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
« Understanding is just the sum of misunderstandings. »
Haruki Murakami, “My Favorite Sputnik”
« It is because despair, disappointment and sadness exist that Joy is born. Wherever you go, you will never find delight without despair. This is the Real... »
« I don't like loneliness. I just don’t make unnecessary acquaintances so as not to be disappointed in people again. »
Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
« When all you think about is how to make money, it’s hard work. Little by little, without noticing it, a person loses himself. »
Haruki Murakami, "Norwegian"forest"
« You are going through the most difficult period right now. Like with teeth. The old ones have already fallen out, and the new ones have not yet grown. »
Haruki Murakami, "Wonderland without brakes and the end of the world"
« I am convinced, although this may be a prejudice: by how a person chooses a sofa, one can judge his character. Sofas are a separate world with its own unshakable laws. But only those who grew up on a good sofa understand this. About the same as growing up on good music or good literature. A good sofa gives birth to another good sofa, but a bad sofa gives birth to nothing but another bad sofa. Alas, this is true. »
Haruki Murakami, "Wonderland without brakes and the end of the world"
« Most often, people conflict precisely because they do not clearly formulate abstract concepts. Anyone who prefers vague formulations is unconsciously, deep down, looking for conflict. »
Personalized issue - Haruki Murakami quotes and sayings of the popular modern Japanese writer and translator: - I don't like loneliness. I just don’t make unnecessary acquaintances. So as not to be disappointed in people once again.
- The world is full of incomprehensible things, and someone must fill this vacuum. It’s better to let those who aren’t boring do it.
- The older a person is, the more things in his life that cannot be corrected.
- Apparently, the heart hides in a hard shell and few can crack it. Maybe that's why I can't really love.
- It often happens that the most important things in the world begin with a trifle.
- Time passes, that's the problem. The past grows and the future shrinks. There are fewer and fewer chances to do anything - and more and more resentment for what you didn’t manage to do.
- Once you admit some nonsense, you won’t be able to stop.
- Our whole reality consists of an endless struggle between what really happened and what we don’t want to remember.
- The best thing is to be patient and wait. Don't lose hope and unravel the tangled threads one by one. No matter how hopeless the situation may be, there is always an end to the thread somewhere.
- Moving with high efficiency in the wrong direction is even worse than not moving anywhere at all.
- I used to think that people grow up year by year, gradually like this... But it turned out - no. A person grows up instantly.
- If you read only those books that everyone else reads, then you can only think about what everyone else reads.
- Memory warms a person from the inside. And at the same time tearing him apart.
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If there is an exit, then there is an entrance. Almost everything works that way. A letter box, a vacuum cleaner, a zoo, a kettle... But, of course, there are things that are designed differently. For example, a mousetrap. - The world around us too often confirms a strange rule: rather than giving things an objective assessment, it is better to perceive them as it suits you - and you will come closer to a true understanding of these things.
- Sometimes you think: it would be nice to turn into a rug at the front door. I would lie all my life somewhere in the hallway... But the world of rugs also has its own wisdom and its own problems. Although this is no longer my business.
- You need to let your feelings out. It's worse if you stop doing it. Otherwise, they will accumulate and harden inside. And then - die.
- No matter how hard you try, when it hurts, it hurts.
- Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only primitive people sympathize with themselves.
- When you have no one to share your lonely thoughts with, thoughts begin to divide you among themselves.
- Maybe you'll never be happy. And so all you can do is dance. But it’s so great to dance so that everyone is looking at you.
- Any emptiness must be filled with something.
- A world without love is like the wind outside the window. Don't touch it, don't breathe it in.
- It’s better to walk around with an empty head than to wallow in a mess of half-thought thoughts.
Topics of the issue: sayings, aphorisms, phrases of Haruki Murakami, quotes and sayings...
No matter how hard you try, when it hurts, it hurts.
The day will come when I will meet someone again. Everything will be very natural - like the movement of planets whose orbits intersect. And we will again hope for some miracle, each on his own, wait for a while, erase our souls - and we will part, no matter what...
Haruki Murakami, Dance, Dance, Dance
There are words that remain in the soul for a lifetime.
Haruki Murakami, "South of the Border, West of the Sun"
Never, never forget me. Remember that I was.
It feels like thanks to the fact that I met you, I was able to fall in love with this world a little.
Haruki Murakami, "Norwegian Wood"
Sometimes I feel unbearably sad, but in general life goes on as usual.
Haruki Murakami, "Norwegian Wood"
Memory warms a person from the inside, and at the same time tears him apart.
Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Beach"
I think there's something in you. Or maybe, on the contrary, something is missing... Although, probably, this is the same thing.
Haruki Murakami, "Wonderland Without Brakes and the End of the World"
Listen,” he said, “maybe you and I can join together as a team?” No matter what we undertake, everything turns out so well!
- Where do we start?
- Let's drink beer.
Haruki Murakami "Listen to the Song of the Wind"
How many people live in this world, each of us greedily seeks something in the other, and yet we remain the same infinitely distant, disconnected from each other.
Sometimes it can be terribly pleasant to be with you. Like Christmas, summer holidays and a newborn puppy all rolled into one.
Haruki Murakami “My Favorite Sputnik”
Do you have many people in your life who would talk to you about you?
Haruki Murakami "Dance, Dance, Dance"
As long as you love someone with all your heart - at least one person - there is still hope in your life. Even if you are not destined to be together.
Haruki Murakami "1Q84. One thousand unknown hundred and eighty-four. Book 1. April - June"
If you look from afar, anything seems beautiful.
Haruki Murakami "Pinball 1973"
It's better to lose you so that you remain in me forever. But not the other way around...
For me, food is more important in life than sex. And sex is like a good dessert. When it’s there, it’s great; when it’s not, it’s not scary, you can do without it. And besides this, there is something to do.
Haruki Murakami "Wonderland without brakes and the End of the World"
If you think about someone enough, then, of course, you will meet again.
This, of course, is purely my problem, and you probably don’t care, but I don’t sleep with anyone anymore. Because I don't want to forget your touch. It's much more important to me than you think
Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Wood"
As soon as her heart moves, mine echoes it. It's like two boats on the same rope. And you want to cut it, but there is no suitable knife anywhere.
Haruki Murakami "Men Without Women"
I am me and at the same time completely part of you... It’s so natural, as if by itself. Once you get used to it, everything is very simple. It's like flying.
Haruki Murakami "Kafka on the Beach"
Whiskey is a drink that is first looked at. And only when they get tired of it do they take a sip. Just like beautiful women.
Haruki Murakami "Wonderland without brakes and the End of the World"
It’s written all over your face: “I don’t care if they love me or not.” This bothers some people.
Do you like loneliness? You travel alone, you eat alone, you sit in class away from everyone else.
- I don't like loneliness. I just don’t make unnecessary acquaintances. So as not to be disappointed in people once again.
Haruki Murakami, "Norwegian Wood"
You need to let your feelings out. It's worse if you stop doing it. Otherwise, they will accumulate and harden inside. And then die.
Haruki Murakami. Norwegian forest
It wasn't my hand that she needed, but someone else's. She didn't need my warmth, but someone else. I couldn’t get rid of an incomprehensible annoyance at the fact that I was me.
Haruki Murakami. Norwegian forest
“However, no matter how hard I tried to forget everything, something like a clot of cloudy air remained inside me. »
Haruki Murakami. Norwegian forest
Everything you know about me is no more than your own memories!..
This was the first time I experienced such a difficult and sad spring. Rather than this, it would be better if February were repeated three times.
Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Wood"
In our unreliable world, there is nothing more elusive and fragile than trust.
Haruki Murakami "Draw on the Carousel"
Such a pleasant melancholy. Something like the silence of a pine tree from which all the birds have flown away.
Haruki Murakami "Sheep Hunt"
I love you very much, Midori.
- How strong? - Like a spring bear.
- Spring bear? - Midori raised her head again. - In what sense, like a spring bear?
- Well, you’re walking alone along a spring field, and from the other side a bear cub with fur as soft as velvet and round eyes comes up to you. And he says to you: “Hello, girl. Let’s hang out with me?” And you cuddle and play with him all day, rolling along a hillock overgrown with clover. Beautiful?
- It's really beautiful.
- That's how much I love you.
Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Wood"
I have always been attracted not by ordinary external beauty, which can be put into a few physical parameters, but by something else, hidden deep inside. There are people who are happy in their hearts when it rains, when there is an earthquake, or when the lights suddenly go out. And I got a thrill from the mysterious and incomprehensible something that attracted me to the opposite sex. Let's call it magnetism. A mysterious force that attracts and absorbs people against their will.
Haruki Murakami "South of the Border, West of the Sun"
“I want you and me to be caught by pirates, stripped naked, pressed face to face and tied with rope.”
– Why exactly?
- These are strange pirates.
- I think no more than you...
Haruki Murakami "Norwegian Wood"
It is very easy to become men without women. It is enough to love a woman deeply, and then she disappears somewhere.
Each of us had problems through the roof. Troubles fell from the sky like rain; We enthusiastically collected them and stuffed them into our pockets. I still don’t understand what the need was for them. We probably confused them with something.
Haruki Murakami "Pinball 1973"
A gentleman is a man who doesn't talk about his taxes paid and the women he slept with.
Haruki Murakami. Men without women
Women from birth are endowed with a special independent body responsible for lying. What, where and how to lie - everyone decides for themselves. However, all women, without exception, at some moment, and often - a very important one - will certainly lie. Of course, they lie about trifles, but this is not the main thing: at the most crucial moment they lie without hesitation or embarrassment. However, most of them do not even blush or change their voice.
Haruki Murakami. Men without women
Reading philosophical literature is not only fashionable, but also useful. The sayings of thinkers help to better understand life and put everything in its place. Some statements immerse a person in his inner world, others inspire, give optimism and give strength to live. In the works of Haruki Murakami you will find both sad and optimistic statements. We invite you to recall quotes and aphorisms from the works of the famous Japanese writer. Our selection presents the best sayings of the thinker, which should be heard by every educated person.
Haruki Murakami is a priest, writer, philosopher and translator of our time. Without any exaggeration, his work can be called genius. The writer today continues to delight connoisseurs of Japanese culture, and literature in particular, with new works. Murakami's works are currently translated into more than a hundred languages around the world. His colossal success is also evidenced by prestigious awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize, the Jerusalem Prize, and the World Fantasy Prize for the best novel. In addition, his works have repeatedly been included in the top ten best books according to The New York Times.
The most important thing is not the big thing that others have come up with, but the small thing that you yourself have come to...
Your own small victories in life play a bigger role than someone else's big achievements.
It’s already twenty... I feel like a fool. I'm not ready for this age yet. Strange condition. It was as if I had been pushed out.
It doesn't matter how old you really are, what matters is how you feel.
Never lose your individuality and follow only your preferences.
Memory warms a person from the inside. And at the same time tearing him apart.
You need to save in your memory only those moments that will warm your soul, and not torment it.
Everyone has the same happiness, but each person is unhappy in his own way.
Some are happy that they are simply living, while for others a whole fortune will not be enough.
I used to think that people grow up year by year, gradually like this... But it turned out - no. A person grows up instantly.
One event can turn a child into an adult.
That's how school works. The most important thing we learn there is that all the most important things we learn are not there.
At school they teach only formalities, life itself teaches the art of living...
Don't pay attention to anyone and if you think you can become happy, don't miss this chance and be happy. As I can judge from my own experience, in life there are such chances once or twice - and you miss them, and if you miss them, you regret it for the rest of your life.
You need to seize the moment when you can become happy, because happiness can last a lifetime.
The best people become the best because they believe in their abilities from the very beginning.
If you believe in yourself, consider that success is in your hands!
Errors are the punctuation marks of life, without which, like in the text, there will be no meaning.
Mistakes are made to teach us something.
Don't expect too much - you won't be disappointed.
Demand the minimum from life, then you will not be disappointed, but satisfied.
I don't like loneliness. I just don’t make unnecessary acquaintances so as not to be disappointed in people again.
There is no need for unnecessary acquaintances, but there must be those that will bring joy and pleasure, not disappointment.
From the novel Norwegian Wood
It feels like thanks to the fact that I met you, I was able to fall in love with this world a little.
One person can decorate this world and teach you to enjoy life.
The world is spacious, filled with amazing things and strange people.
There seem to be more strange people in it.
Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only nonentities feel sorry for themselves.
Sit down, think, calm down, at least sympathize with yourself, but in no case regret it.
Our life cannot be measured with a ruler and at the corners with a protractor.
Some events are not something difficult to measure, they are almost impossible to describe.
I don't feel anything. No sadness, no sadness, no bitterness. And no memories at all.
This is impossible, because feelings are life, their absence is just existence.
Being honest with each other and wanting to help is the main thing.
Only a few people know about this; everyone thinks that the main goal is to get as rich as possible.
There is no justice in the world, even in principle. It is not my fault. Initially, everything was arranged this way.
What's the point of fighting for it then?
If I relax now, I'll fall apart. From the very beginning I lived like this, and now this is the only way I can live. If I relax once, then I won’t be able to return. I will crumble into pieces and it will take me somewhere.
It’s also impossible to live in tension all the time...
You need to let your feelings out. It's worse if you stop doing it. Otherwise, they will accumulate and harden inside. And then die.
Why then is no one embarrassed to express anger and hatred, and everyone carefully hides love and kindness?
I hated school to death, so I never skipped school. All the time I thought: will I really give in? Give in once and... it's over. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control myself later.
Willpower helps you live and overcome difficulties, school is one of them...
Sometimes I feel unbearably sad, but in general life goes on as usual.
There is simply no life without sadness.
The death of a person leaves behind small amazing memories.
First it leaves the pain of loss, then grief, then memories remain...
Only unreliable memories or unreliable thoughts can be put into such an unreliable vessel as text on paper.
If you doubt something, put it all on paper and see how it looks...
About love
When you love someone, you look for what you lack. Therefore, when you think about a loved one, it is always difficult. Anyway. It’s like you’re entering a painfully familiar room that you haven’t been in for a very long time.
Love is not only joy, but also pain, it can come not only from separation, but also from worries for a loved one.
You see, sometimes people fall in love with each other just like that, without any logic. They just like each other - and even if you crack. It's called love. When you grow up a little more and they buy you a bra, you will understand this yourself.
Love comes with age...
I don't just want to sleep with you. I want to get married so I can share with you everything that is inside you.
Sleeping with someone and sleeping with your wife are two different things.
It’s great when someone loves someone, and if this love is from the heart, then no one rushes through labyrinths.
Understanding that you are loved gives you wings and helps you live.
It’s written on your face: “I don’t care if they love me or not.” This bothers some people.
Is it possible to live without love?
I will find a person who will think about me one hundred percent and love me all year round, and I myself will make sure that he will be mine.
It’s called, I decided to build my own destiny...
Apparently, the heart hides in a hard shell, and few can crack it. Maybe that's why I can't really love.
Until you break the shell yourself, others will not reach your heart...
Traditionally, the theme of love occupies a large place in the works of many writers and thinkers. Haruki Murakami interprets this feeling in his own way. He does not glorify love as a great and bright feeling; the philosopher believes that it only brings disappointment and inner anxiety. But the Japanese writer pays due attention to love for the Motherland. He felt that he loved his country so much only when he found himself far from it. According to Murakami’s works, distance helps to understand how important the Motherland is for a person.
