Being alive, if you had to define it, meant emitting a variety of smells. Haruki Murakami More Quotes by Haruki Murakami More Quotes From Haruki Murakami Like most novelists, I like to do exactly the opposite of what I'm told. It's in my nature as a novelist. Novelists can't trust anything they haven't seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands. Haruki Murakami eye acceptance hands I'm often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. I always ponder the question. What exactly do I think about when I'm running? I don't have a clue. Haruki Murakami distance running thinking I didn't have much to say to anybody but kept to myself and my books. With my eyes closed, I would touch a familiar book and draw it's fragrance deep inside me. This was enough to make me happy. Haruki Murakami eye enough book The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can't be learned at school. Haruki Murakami important life school Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can. Haruki Murakami eye use mind I said nothing for a time, just ran my fingertips along the edge of the human-shaped emptiness that had been left inside me. Haruki Murakami fingertips emptiness said Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard. Haruki Murakami substance space past 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 writing people needs I was twenty-one at the time, about to turn twenty-two. No prospect of graduating soon, and yet no reason to quit school. Caught in the most curiously depressing circumstances. For months I'd been stuck, unable to take one step in any new direction. The world kept moving on; I alone was at a standstill. In the autumn, everything took on a desolate cast, the colors swiftly fading before my eyes. The sunlight, the smell of the grass, the faintest patter of rain, everything got on my nerves. Haruki Murakami depressing rain moving The point is, not to resist the flow. You go up when you're supposed to go up and down when you're supposed to go down. When you're supposed to go up, find the highest tower and climb to the top. When you're supposed to go down, find the deepest well and go down to the bottom. When there's no flow, stay still. If you resist the flow, everything dries up. If everything dries up, the world is darkness. Haruki Murakami towers darkness world But metaphors help eliminate what separates you and me. Haruki Murakami metaphor helping My biggest fault is that the faults I was born with grow bigger each year. Haruki Murakami faults born years You know what I'd really like to do the most right now? Climb up to the top of some high place like the pyramids. The highest place I can find. Where you can see forever. Stand on the very top, look all around the world, see all the scenery, and see with my own eyes what's been lost from the world. Haruki Murakami eye pyramids forever 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 wheels mean thinking I'll never see them again. I know that. And they know that. And knowing this, we say farewell. Haruki Murakami long-distance-relationship farewell knowing This was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets, like an antique clock built when peace filled the world. Haruki Murakami antiques secret world Don't pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world? Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life, and it'd lose even its imperfection. Haruki Murakami pointless-things perfect world You live by yourself for a stretch of time and you get to staring at different objects. Sometimes you talk to yourself. You take meals in crowded joints. You develop an intimate relationship with your used Subaru. You slowly but surely become a has-been. Haruki Murakami meals different intimate-relationships I would stare at the grains of light suspended in that silent space, struggling to see into my own heart. What did I want? And what did others want from me? But I could never find the answers. Sometimes I would reach out and try to grasp the grains of light, but my fingers touched nothing. Haruki Murakami light struggle heart The power to concentrate was the most important thing. Living without this power would be like opening one’s eyes without seeing anything. Haruki Murakami important eye would-be
