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 More Quotes by Kazuo Ishiguro More Quotes From Kazuo Ishiguro If you go to Tokyo, I think it becomes very obvious that there's this almost seamless mixture of popular culture and Japanese traditional culture. Kazuo Ishiguro mixtures culture thinking There was a time you saw me once, one afternoon, in the dormitories. There was no one else around, and I was playing this tape, this music. I was sort of dancing with my eyes closed and you saw me.' '...yes, I remember that occasion. I still think about it from time to time.' 'That's funny, so do I. Kazuo Ishiguro dancing eye thinking My friends and I took songwriting very, very seriously. My hero was and still is Bob Dylan, but also people like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and that whole generation. Kazuo Ishiguro generations hero people Even at the time, I realised this couldn't be right, that this interpretation didn't fit with the rest of the lyrics. But that wasn't an issue with me. The song was about what I said, and I used to listen to it again and again, on my own, whenever I got the chance. Kazuo Ishiguro issues chance song There comes a point when you can more or less count the number of books you're going to write before you die. Kazuo Ishiguro writing numbers book Your life must now run the course that's been set for it. Kazuo Ishiguro never-let-me-go courses running A man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than the ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions (...) if one has failed only where others have not had the courage or will to try, there is consolation - indeed, deep satisfaction - to be gained from his observation when looking back over one's life. #Page no.134 Kazuo Ishiguro ambition trying men It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. Kazuo Ishiguro you-let-me-go never-let-me-go speed Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory. Kazuo Ishiguro texture writing memories I do not think I responded immediately, for it took me a moment or two to fully digest these words of Miss Kenton. Moreover, as you might appreciate, their implications were such as to provoke a certain degree of sorrow within me. Indeed- why should I not admit it? - at that moment, my heart was breaking. Kazuo Ishiguro broken-heart two thinking You need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you. Kazuo Ishiguro never-let-me-go lying needs What interests me is the surprising enormous extent to which most people accept the fate that's been given to them, and find some dignity. Kazuo Ishiguro dignity fate people Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write. Kazuo Ishiguro dream book travel What is difficult is the promotion, balancing the public side of a writer's life with the writing. I think that's something a lot of writers are having to face. Writers have become much more public now. Kazuo Ishiguro literature writing thinking There is certainly a satisfaction and dignity to be gained in coming to terms with the mistakes one has made in the course of one’s life Kazuo Ishiguro dignity satisfaction mistake I work very regular hours, roughly 9 to 5:30. I think I have it much easier than a lot of parents. I just sit at home, I have a very flexible timetable, and I'm very fortunate in that I don't have money problems. I have lunch with my wife at home. I don't have to commute, so I have much more time with my family. Kazuo Ishiguro lunch home thinking I want my words to survive translation. I know when I write a book now I will have to go and spend three days being intensely interrogated by journalists in Denmark or wherever. That fact, I believe, informs the way I write - with those Danish journalists leaning over my shoulder. Kazuo Ishiguro writing believe book It is all very well, in these changing times, to adapt one's work to take in duties not traditionally within one's realm; but bantering is of another dimension altogether. For one thing, how would one know for sure that at any given moment a response of the bantering sort is truly what is expected? One need hardly dwell on the catastrophic possibility of uttering a bantering remark only to discover it wholly inappropriate. Kazuo Ishiguro inappropriate dimensions needs All you decent, well-meaning gentlemen, let me ask you, have you any idea what sort of place the world is becoming all around you? The days when you could act out of your noble instincts are over. Except of course, you here in Europe don't yet seem to know it. Kazuo Ishiguro gentleman europe ideas I loved cowboy films and TV series, and I learned bits of English from them. My favorite was 'Laramie', with Robert Fuller and John Smith. I used to watch 'The Lone Ranger', which had been famous in Japan as well. I idolized these cowboys. Kazuo Ishiguro cowboy japan watches
