And what made these heart-to-hearts possible--you might even say what made the whole friendship possible during that time--was this understanding we had that anything we told each other during these moments would be treated with careful respect: that we'd honor confidences, and that no matter how much we rowed, we wouldn't use against each other anything we'd talked about during those sessions.

Kazuo Ishiguro

Many of our deepest motives come, not from an adult logic of how things work in the world, but out of something that is frozen from childhood.

Kazuo Ishiguro

frozen childhood adults

I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because it's foggy and obscure, the opportunities for self-deception are there. In the end, as a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

Kazuo Ishiguro

self opportunity memories

Love isn't about when you first meet. It's about the many, many years you spend together, when you're trying to keep that flame burning.

Kazuo Ishiguro

flames love-is years

There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.

Kazuo Ishiguro

another-life might inspirational

If you are under the impression you have already perfected yourself, you will never rise to the heights you are no doubt capable of.

Kazuo Ishiguro

height impression doubt

I discovered that my imagination came alive when I moved away from the immediate world around me.

Kazuo Ishiguro

alive imagination world

I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever.

Kazuo Ishiguro

strong letting-go love

The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it.

Kazuo Ishiguro

evening done feet

Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.

Kazuo Ishiguro

never-let-me-go fading memories

You have to accept that sometimes that's how things happen in this world. People's opinions, their feelings, they go one way, then the other. It just so happens you grew up at a certain point in this process.

Kazuo Ishiguro

feelings people world

What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.

Kazuo Ishiguro

sacrifice pride order

Memory, I realize, can be an unreliable thing; often it is heavily coloured by the circumstances in which one remembers.

Kazuo Ishiguro

realizing remember memories

…It’s hard to appreciate the beauty of a world when one doubts its very validity….But I’ve long since lost all such doubts, Ono,’ he continued. ‘When I am an old man, when I look back over my life and see I have devoted it to the task of capturing the unique beauty of that world, I believe I will be well satisfied. And no man will make me believe I’ve wasted my time.

Kazuo Ishiguro

unique men believe

Don’t you wonder sometimes, what might have happened if you tried?

Kazuo Ishiguro

wonder might sometimes

She always wanted to believe in things.

Kazuo Ishiguro

never-let-me-go wanted believe

It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.

Kazuo Ishiguro

mistake life moving

As a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

Kazuo Ishiguro

self-deception literature people

You're always in a rush, or else you're too exhausted to have a proper conversation. Soon enough, the long hours, the traveling, the broken sleep have all crept into your being and become part of you, so everyone can see it, in your posture, your gaze, the way you move and talk.

Kazuo Ishiguro

soon-enough sleep moving

I have the feeling of this completely alternative person I should have become. There was another life that I might have had, but I’m having this one.

Kazuo Ishiguro

alternatives should-have feelings

What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it.

Kazuo Ishiguro

greatness land needs