Haruki Murakami Quotes & Sayings

“If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets.”

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain: when you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

“When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in.”

“Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can't buy.”

“Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.”

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”

“Nobody likes being alone that much. I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all. It just leads to disappointment.”

“I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”

“No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.”

“Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?”

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

“What happens when people open their hearts?”

“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.”

“A gentleman is someone who does not what he wants to do, but what he should do.”