“I never trust people with no appetite. It's like they're always holding something back on you.”
Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 35, Nail Clippers, Butter Sauce, Iron Vase
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 38, Escape
“Never let fear and stupid pride make you lose someone who's precious to you.”
Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
“Even castles in the sky can do with a fresh coat of paint.”
Source: South of the Border, West of the Sun
Variant: Violence does not always take visible form, and not all wounds gush blood.
Source: 1Q84
“Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can.”
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
“The dead will always be dead, but we have to go on living.”
Source: Norwegian Wood
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 16: The Coming of Winter
“Sometimes taking time is actually a shortcut.”
Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 32, Shadow in the Throes of Death
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Context: First, about the mind. You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That this is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.
“When I wake up, my pillow’s cold and damp with tears. But tears for what? I have no idea.”
Source: Kafka on the Shore