2,618 Quotes by Haruki Murakami

Things can be seen better in the darkness," he said, as if he had just seen into her mind. "But the longer you spend in the dark, the harder it becomes to return to the world aboveground where the light is

Is action merely the incidental product of thought, or is thought the consequential product of action?

I myself, as I'm writing, don't know who did it. The readers and I are on the same ground. When I start to write a story, I don't know the conclusion at all and I don't know what's going to happen next. If there is a murder case as the first thing, I don't know who the killer is. I write the book because I would like to find out. If I know who the killer is, there's no purpose to writing the story.

Someone once said that nothing costs more and yields less benefit than revenge,” Aomame said. “Winston Churchill. As I recall it, though, he was making excuses for the British Empire’s budget deficits. It has no moral significance.

Most near-future fictions are boring. It's always dark and always raining, and people are so unhappy.

Who can really distinguish between the sea and what's reflected in it? Or tell the difference between the falling rain and loneliness?

I am struck by how, except when you're young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don't get that sort of system set by a certain age, you'll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.

The dead will always be dead, but we have to go on living.

Nights without work I spend with whisky and books.