Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country. Profoundly inspirational Haruki Murakami quotes will challenge the way you think, change the way you live and transform your whole life.
If you’re searching for quotes from great authors that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of quotes from Helen Keller, powerful Henry Miller quotes and famous Jack London quotes.
Famous Haruki Murakami Quotes
Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who’s in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It’s like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven’t seen in a long time. Haruki Murakami
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. Haruki Murakami
People fall in love without reason, without even wanting to. You can’t predict it. That’s love. Haruki Murakami
Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart. Haruki Murakami
Maybe it’s just hiding somewhere. Or gone on a trip to come home. But falling in love is always a pretty crazy thing. Haruki Murakami
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. Haruki Murakami
I just don’t get it, he told her. I love you so much. I want us to be one. This couldn’t be clearer to me, or more important. I don’t care if it’s unrealistic. That’s how much I love you. Haruki Murakami
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. Haruki Murakami
We’re both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We’re connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me. Haruki Murakami
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. haruki murakami
For a certain kind of person, love begins from something tiny or silly. From something like that or it doesn’t begin at all. Haruki Murakami
If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets. Haruki Murakami
No mistake about it. Ice is cold; roses are red; I’m in love. And this love is about to carry me off somewhere. Haruki Murakami
Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting. Haruki Marukami
Sometimes when I look at you, I feel I’m gazing at a distant star. It’s dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago. Maybe the star doesn’t even exist any more. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything. Haruki Murakami
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? Haruki Murakami
It’s not as if our lives are divided simply into light and dark. There’s shadowy middle ground. Recognizing and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does. And to acquire a healthy intelligence takes a certain amount of time and effort. Haruki Murakami
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. Haruki Murakami
Life is not like water. Things in life don’t necessarily flow over the shortest possible route. Haruki Murakami
No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories. Haruki Murakami
In the midst of life, everything revolved around death. Haruki Murakami
Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only assholes do that. Haruki Murakami
Even if we could turn back, we’d probably never end up back where we started. Haruki Murakami
Sometimes when I look at you, I feel I’m gazing at a distant star.
It’s dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago.
Maybe the star doesn’t even exist any more. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything. Haruki Murakami
Even chance meetings are the result of karma. Things in life are fated by our previous lives. That even in the smallest events there’s no such thing as coincidence. Haruki Murakami
But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives. Haruki Murakami
As we go through life, we gradually discover who we are, but the more we discover, the more we lose ourselves. Haruki Murakami
It’s like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story. Haruki Murakami
What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past. Haruki Murakami
Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That’s part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads at least that’s where I imagine it there’s a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you’ll live forever in your own private library. Haruki Murakami
People die all the time. Life is a lot more fragile than we think. So you should treat others in a way that leaves no regrets. Fairly, and if possible, sincerely. Haruki Murakami
I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this? Haruki Murakami
One foot in front of the other. Repeat as often as necessary to finish. Haruki Murakami
I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it to be fed so much love I couldn’t take any more. Just once. Haruki Murakami
What we seek is some kind of compensation for what we put up with. Haruki Murakami
But I didn’t understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair. Haruki Murakami
Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life and it’d lose even its imperfection. Haruki Murakami
Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear. Haruki Murakami
I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do. Haruki Murakami
Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting. Haruki Murakami
Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. Haruki Murakami
I have this strange feeling that I’m not myself anymore. It’s hard to put into words, but I guess it’s like I was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me, and hurriedly put me back together again. That sort of feeling. Haruki Murakami
The better you were able to imagine what you wanted to imagine, the farther you could flee from reality. Haruki Murakami
If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there’s salvation in life. Even if you can’t get together with that person. Haruki Murakami
The answer is dreams. Dreaming on and on. Entering the world of dreams and never coming out. Living in dreams for the rest of time. Haruki Murakami
Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it’s time for them to be hurt. Haruki Murakami
Dreams come from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn’t control you you should control them. Haruki Murakami
But even so, every now and then I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o’clock in the morning. Haruki Murakami
In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It’s important to combine the two in just the right amount. Haruki Murakami
Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it. Haruki Murakami
I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at four o’clock in the morning. Haruki Murakami
She waited for the train to pass. Then she said, I sometimes think that people’s hearts are like deep wells. Nobody knows what’s at the bottom. All you can do is imagine by what comes floating to the surface every once in a while. Haruki Murakami
Sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you. Haruki Murakami
Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive. Haruki Murakami
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? Haruki Murakami.
In everybody’s life there’s a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can’t go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That’s how we survive. Haruki Murakami
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. Haruki Murakami
Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what’s going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That’s the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still. Haruki Murakami
I realize full well how hard it must be to go on living alone in a place from which someone has left you, but there is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for. Haruki Murakami
Taking crazy things seriously is a serious waste of time. Haruki Murakami
An empty shell. Those were the first words that sprang to mind. Something incredibly important had disappeared from Miu for good. Leaving behind not life, but its absence. Haruki Murakami
In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It’s important to combine the two in just the right amount. Haruki Murakami
The human heart is like a night bird. Silently waiting for something, and when the time comes, it flies straight toward it. Haruki Murakami
And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in their own separate orbits. From far off they look like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they’re nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we’d be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing. Haruki Murakami
What matters is deciding in your heart to accept another person completely. When you do that, it is always the first time and the last. Haruki Murakami
Letters are just pieces of paper, I said. Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them, and what vanishes will vanish. Haruki Murakami
For a long time, she held a special place in my heart. I kept this special place just for her, like a Reserved sign on a quiet corner table in a restaurant. Despite the fact that I was sure I’d never see her again. Haruki Murakami
Don’t you think it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go some place where you don’t know a soul? Haruki Murakami
What happens when people open their hearts? They get better. Haruki Murakami
No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning. Haruki Murakami
I sometimes think that people’s hearts are like deep wells. Nobody knows what’s at the bottom. All you can do is imagine by what comes floating to the surface every once in a while. Haruki Murakami
The answer is dreams. Dreaming on and on. Entering the world of dreams and never coming out. Living in dreams for the rest of time. Haruki Murakami
If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there’s salvation in life. Even if you can’t get together with that person. Haruki Murakami
Of course it hurt that we could never love each other in a physical way. We would have been far more happy if we had. But that was like the tides, the change of seasons something immutable, an immovable destiny we could never alter. No matter how cleverly we might shelter it, our delicate friendship wasn’t going to last forever. We were bound to reach a dead end. That was painfully clear. Haruki Murakami
It’s hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart. Haruki Murakami
As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself. Haruki Murakami
Don’t let appearances fool you. There’s always only one reality. Haruki Murakami
The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school. Haruki Murakami
It seems to me that reality itself has a screw loose somewhere. That’s why I try to keep at least myself in line as much as possible. Haruki Murakami
Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe. Haruki Murakami
Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Haruki Murakami
What a terrible thing it is to wound someone you really care for and to do it so unconsciously. Haruki Murakami
The truth sometimes reminds me of a city buried in sand. As time passes, the sand piles up even thicker, and occasionally it’s blown away and what’s below is revealed. Haruki Murakami
For a while is a phrase whose length can’t be measured.At least by the person who’s waiting. Haruki Murakami
No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning. Haruki Murakami
That’s what the world is, after all an endless battle of contrasting memories. Haruki Murakami
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Haruki Murakami
A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. Haruki Murakami
The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school. Haruki Murakami
Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy. Haruki Murakami
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. Haruki Murakami
No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That’s all. Haruki Murakami
Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy. Haruki Murakami
If you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark. Haruki Murakami
The light of morning decomposes everything. Haruki Murakami
Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade. Haruki Murakami
