Haruki Murakami: Quotes about life

Haruki Murakami is Japanese author, novelist. Explore interesting quotes on life.
Haruki Murakami: 1310 quotes136 likes

“Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“I may be the type who manages to grab all the pointless things in life but lets the really important things slip away.”

Haruki Murakami

Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

“It's my motto for life. 'Walk slowly; drink lots of water.”

Haruki Murakami book After Dark

Source: After Dark

“No matter how quiet and conformist a person’s life seems, there’s always a time in the past when they reached an impasse. A time when they went a little crazy. I guess people need that sort of stage in their lives.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Life is long, and sometimes cruel. Sometimes victims are needed. Someone has to take on that role. And human bodies are fragile, easily damaged. Cut them, and they bleed.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“He was silent for thirty seconds, maybe a minute. I uncrossed my legs under the table and wondered if this was the right moment to leave. It was as if my whole life revolved around trying to judge the right point in a conversation to say goodbye.”

Haruki Murakami

Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

“In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

“Generally, people who are good at writing letters have no need to write letters. They've got plenty of life to lead inside their own context.”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982), Chapter 13, The Rat's First Letter

“Nobody's going to win all the time. On the highway of life you can't always be in the fast lane.”

Haruki Murakami book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Source: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

“Those were strange days, now that I look back at them. In the midst of life, everything revolved around death.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“No matter what form the relationship might take, he was the only person she could picture sharing her life with.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart

“Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left?”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“You've already decided what you're going to do, and all that's left is to set the wheels in motion. I mean, it's your life. Basically, you gotta go with what you think is right.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

“But didn't you say you were satisfied with your life?"

"Word games," I dismissed. "Every army needs a flag.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“Once again, life had a lesson to teach me: It takes years to build up, it takes moments to destroy.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Variant: It takes years to build up, it takes moments to destroy.
Source: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Chapter 19: Hamburgers,Skyline and Deadline
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Context: Once again, life had a lesson to teach me: It takes years to build up, it takes moments to destroy. Sure, I'd gotten tired of this tiny space, but I'd had a good home here. In the time it takes to swill two cans of beer, all had had sublimed like morning mist. My job, my whiskey, my peace and quiet, my solitude, my Sormerset Maugham, and John Ford collections-all of it trashed and worthless.

“Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life and it’d lose even its imperfection.”

Haruki Murakami book Sputnik Sweetheart

Source: Sputnik Sweetheart