46 Quotes by Yōko Ogawa

...he has never read a single page of any of my books.Once, when I told him I'd love to know what he thinks of them, he demurred."I couldn't possibly say," he said. "If you read a novel to the end, then it's over. I would never want to do something as wasteful as that. I'd much rather keep it here with me, safe and sound, forever.

Since that time, I've had many similar moments, and I can never hear the words "family" and "home" without feeling that they sound strange, never simply hear them and let them go. When I stop to examine them, though, the words seem hollow, seem to rattle at my feet like empty cans.

博士は息子を、ルートと呼んだ。「どんな数字でも嫌がらずに自分の中にかくまってやる、実に寛大な記号、ルートだよ」

I couldn't reach him from here even if I tried.

Sometimes I wish I could describe how wonderful I feel in those few seconds from the time he spreads his arms above his head, as if trying to grab hold of something, to the instant he vanishes into the water. But I can never find the right words. Perhaps it’s because he’s falling through time, to a place where words can never reach.

He preferred smart questions to smart answers.

The waves of regret were gentle, but I knew they would ripple on forever.

They say it'll be even hotter tomorrow. that's how we spend the summer. complaining about the heat.

When we grow up, we find ways to hide our anxieties, our loneliness, our fear and sorrow. But children hide nothing, putting everything into their tears, which they spread liberally about for the whole world to see.