Banana Yoshimoto citations

“I realized that the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me. It was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness.”

“That's the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those of us who stay up all night, it can feel as long as a lifetime. You get a lot done”

“As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.”

“No matter where you are, you're always a bit on your own, always an outsider.”

“But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.”

“People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces. Defeat comes from within.”

“Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life.”

“No matter what, I want to continue living with the awareness that I will die. Without that, I am not alive.”

“Everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy.”

“Every time I look into his eyes I just want to take the ice cream or whatever I've got in my hand and rub it into his face. That's how much I like him.”

“It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness.”

“Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.”

“This world of ours is piled high with farewells and goodbyes of so many different kinds, like the evening sky renewing itself again and again from one instant to the next-and I didn’t want to forget a single one.”

“Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends.”

“When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.”

“Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you…”

“Everything in life has some good in it. And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more--it's sad, but that's the truth.”

“The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free.”

“I was happy. I loved the night, I loved t so much it almost hurt. In the night everything seemed possible. I wasn't sleepy at all.”

“This is what it means to be loved… when someone wants to touch you, to be tender…”

“In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions much of one's life history is etched in the senses.”

“I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.”

“Why is it we have so little choice? We live like the lowliest worms. Always defeated - defeated we make dinner, we eat, we sleep. Everyone we love is dying. Sill, to cease living is unacceptable.”

“Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic.”

“It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.”

“When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.”

“If you don’t say what you’re thinking, you end up lying when you really need to speak up.”

“Nothing exists in this world but me and my bed…” (p. 141).”

“Why were we so far apart, even when we were together? It was a nice loneliness, like the sensation of washing your face in cold water.”