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Quotes by Japanese Authors
"Even if we have ourselves so fully convinced that we are on the right track because we desperately want to believe that the specific direction we have chosen is the 'correct one', if the universe disagrees with our choices, it will not be shy in telling us so."
"When there is a huge force pressing down on freedoms, sub-cultures with more creativity and power are likely to form."
"If you ever want to know how a man truly feels about you, do absolutely nothing. Then you'll have your answer."
"In ancient times people weren't just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everybody in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being that people spend their time running around trying to locate their missing other half."
"Your past history is NOT an excuse."
"The US constitution's First Amendment rights only cover Americans, but I believe that in a democracy the competition of ideas and free speech should combat beliefs that it does not agree with - more speech and debate, not censorship."
"We will try to create conditions where persons could come together in a spirit of teamwork, and exercise to their heart's desire their technological capacity."
"I do feel that I've managed to make something I could maybe call my world, over time, ittle by little. And when I'm inside it, to some extent, I feel kind of relieved. But the very fact I felt I had to make such a world probably means that I'm a weak person, that I bruise easily, don't you think? And in the eyes of society at large, that world of mine is a puny little thing. It's like a cardboard house: a puff of wind might carry it off somewhere."
"Sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you."
"In a world where discovery is more important than delivery, it's the people who find, remix and direct attention to old stuff that should be rewarded, not the people who deliver it or sit on it waiting for someone to show up."
"The majority of people dismiss those things that lie beyond the bounds of their own understanding as absurd and not worth thinking about. I myself can only wish that my stories were, indeed, nothing but incredible fabrications. I have stayed alive all these years clinging to the frail hope that these memories of mine were nothing but a dream or a delusion. I have struggled to convince myself that they never happened. But each time I tried to push them into the dark, they came back stronger and more vivid than ever. Like cancer cells, these memories have taken root in my mind and eaten into my flesh."
"What I want is for the two of us to meet somewhere by chance one day, like, passing on the street, or getting on the same bus."
"When ambitious desires arise in thy heart, recall the days of extremity thou has passed through."
"Google is in an amazing position to be the target of tons of lawsuits that will set precedent for many important things for us on the Internet."
"Making someone feel obligated, pressured or forced into doing something of a sexual nature that they don't want to is sexual coercion. This includes persistent attempts at sexual contact when the person has already refused you. Nobody owes you sex, ever; and no means no, always."
"I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning."
"Everybody has some one thing they do not want to lose," began the man. "You included. And we are professionals at finding out that very thing. Humans by necessity must have a midway point between their desires and their pride. Just as all objects must have a center of gravity. This is something we can pinpoint. Only when it is gone do people realize it even existed."
"A person, who no matter how desperate the situation, gives others hope, is a true leader."
"There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair."
"Food fighters in Japan think of themselves as athletes. They have a higher recognition of the game and are constantly thinking about records. I probably won't continue for long because it puts pressure on the body. But I am at the age where I can perform my best."
"I do not subscribe to the abuse 'victim' or 'survivor' labelling mentality. I have experienced every kind of abuse imaginable and I am and always have been the most happy-go-lucky, positive and life affirming person around. Your labels do not serve you, so don't use them as an excuse to be miserable. You have a beautiful life to live, so accept the beauty and start living."
"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."
"People soon get tired of things that aren't boring, but not of what is boring."
"Music should be able to invoke the natural emotions in all human beings. Music is not notes fixed on apiece of paper."
"Whenever an occasion arose in which she needed an opinion on something in the wider world, she borrowed her husband's. If this had been all there was to her, she wouldn't have bothered anyone, but as is so often the case with such women, she suffered from an incurable case of of pretentiousness. Lacking any internalized values of her own, such people can arrive at a standpoint only by adopting other people's standards or views. The only principle that governs their minds is the question "How do I look?"
"Centuries of social conditioning has created a generational fear among women of being perceived as masculine.This is where all the shaming and labels come into play, which perpetuate the oppression of girls and women. As a society we shame girls with deep voices or masculine features and we shame boys with soft voices or effeminate gestures. Girls get called 'too manly' and boys get called 'too girly'. The only solution I can think of is to be unashamedly 'you'. If that means challenging stereotypes and gender norms, go right ahead!"
"There is a need for promoting women's sexual agency in today's society, because if it wasn't an issue, terms such as 'female sexual empowerment' would be made redundant. The fact that we merely have this vocabulary is indicative of that."
"You are your own soul mate, so love and treat yourself in the same way you would your life partner."
"Threatening a current or former partner isn't passion, or love, or heartache. It's violence, it's abuse and it's a crime."
"Don't tell me I'm 'too tall' just because my height happens to threaten your rather fragile sense of masculinity. The fact that men cannot look down upon women who are taller than them is the very reason that many men find tall women so intimidating."
"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."
"You throw a stone into a deep pond. Splash. The sound is big, and it reverberates throughout the surrounding area. What comes out of the pond after that? All we can do is stare at the pond, holding our breath."
"There's a need, too, for a special name in order to distinguish between this present world and the former world in which the police carried old-fashioned revolvers. ... 1Q84 - that's what I'll call this new world. Q is for 'question mark'. A world that bears a question."
"Male social conditioning encourages boys and men to aim to bed as many women as possible....so much so, that their self esteem and self worth become intertwined with the number of sexual partners they have; and when that number is low or even zero, so too is their self-confidence."
"If you are not happy here and now, you never will be."
"When you notice yourself desperately trying to think of an excuse to avoid a new experience out of FEAR, ANXIETY or INSECURITY, make the decision to say: 'sure, I'll do it' , and see how your life improves."
"Christianity, to be effective in Japan, must change."
"I could never tell what was going on inside the pretty heads of the girls that Naoko brought along, and they probably couldn't understand me, either."
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