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Quotes by Japanese Authors
"Living and dying are, in a sense, of equal value."
"To what extent facts we recognize as such really are as they seem, and to what extent these are facts merely because we label them as such, is an impossible distinction to draw. Therefore, in order to pin down reality as reality, we need another reality to relativize the first. Yet that other reality requires a third reality to serve as its grounding. An endless chain is created within our consciousness, and it is the maintenance of this chain which produces the sensation that we are actually here, that we ourselves exist. But something can happen to sever that chain and we are at a loss. What is real? Is reality on this side of the break in the chain? Or over there, on the other side?"
"She was a keen observer, a precise user of language, sharp-tongued and funny. She could stir your emotions. Yes, really, that's what she was so good at - stirring people's emotions, moving you. And she knew she had this power...I only realized later. At the time, I had no idea what she was doing to me."
"All's well that ends well.''Assuming there's an end somewhere,' Aomame said.Tamaru formed some short creases near his mouth that were faintly reminiscent of a smile. 'There has to be an end somewhere. It's just that nothing's labeled "This is the end." Is the top rung of a ladder labeled "This is the last rung. Please don't step higher than this'?"Aomame shook her head.'It's the same thing,' Tamaru said.Aomame said, 'If you use common sense and keep your eyes open, it becomes clear enough where the end is.'Tamaru nodded. 'And even if it doesn't' -- he made a falling gesture with his finger -- 'the end is right there."
"See people in the light of their potentials, not their problems."
"Every invention began as an imagination."
"There are symbolic dreams-dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities-realities that symbolize a dream."
"He decided not to ask for details. Better to avoid exposing his ignorance even further."
"Great dream or idea comes up when you are thinking of something other than yourself."
"Your heart influences your art."
"You want to know why you felt that way about me even though you didn't love me."
"It's a dark, cool, quiet place. A basement in your soul. And that place can sometimes be dangerous to the human mind. I can open the door and enter that darkness, but I have to be very careful. I can find my story there. Then I bring that thing to the surface, into the real world."
"Talent can be a nice thing to have sometimes. You look good, attract attention, and if you're lucky, you make some money. Women flock to you. In that sense, having talent's preferable to having none. But talent only functions when it's supported by a tough, unyielding physical and mental focus. All it takes is one screw in your brain to come loose and fall off, or some connection in your body to break down, and your concentration vanishes, like the dew at dawn. If talent's the foundation you rely on, and yet it's so unreliable that you have no idea what's going to happen to it the next minute, what meaning does it have?"
"He was going to die soon, you knew when you saw those eyes. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest traces of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated old house from which all furniture and fixtures have been removed and which awaited now only its final demolition."
"We walked side by side to the station. The sweater kept me comfortable in the night air."Okay, I'll keep plugging away, she said."Wasn't much help, was I?"No, actually, it took a load off me just to be able to talk.We caught trains going in opposite directions from the same platform."You're really not lonely? she asked one last time. And while I was searching for a good reply, her train came."
"Once the ego is born into this world, it has to shoulder morality."
"Surround yourself with those who won't compete but will revel in you your success and see your ascent as a reflection of their own possibilities."
"Sitting on the floor, I'd replay the past in my head. Funny, that's all I did, day after day after day for half a year, and I never tired of it. What I'd been through seemed so vast, with so many facets. Vast, but real, very real, which was why the experience persisted in towering before me, like a monument lit up at night. And the thing was, it was a monument to me."
"We're on the border of this world, speaking a common language. That's all."
"Creativity is key to productivity and prosperity."
"Your wife is your life. Don't let strife thrive in your union."
"Our personal history does not inhibit our present or our future. Don't let anyone (including yourself) tell you you can't do something. Find your passion and take action everyday to work towards achieving your life purpose."
"The world follows its own course. Each possesses his own thoughts, each treads his own path. So it is with your mother, and so it is with your starling. As it is with everyone. The world follows its own course."
"An adversity is an opportunity to exercise and maximize your creativity."
"Don't ever let others impose their self-limiting beliefs on to you. They don't have the courage and spirit that you do."
"Maybe so, but I'm not just looking up at the sky and waiting for the fruit to drop. In my own way, I'm working hard. I'm working ten times harder than you are."
"Leadership is the ability to make things happen."
"Tisn't any need for you't'know. Even without you knowin', you function as yourself. That's your black box. In other words, we all carry around this great unexplored 'elephant graveyard' inside us. Outer space aside, this is truly humanity's last terra incognita."
"Talk is cheap, action is expensive."
"Not everybody is looking for a boyfriend with a sports car."
"The best things occur when you challenge yourself and face your fears. If you think of your greatest achievements and take an inventory of the times you have demonstrated to yourself (and others) just how strong you are, you will notice it has never been while remaining within your comfort zone doing things that are easy and familiar to you."
"Don't allow yourself to be fooled by how 'nice' a person appears to be, measure a person's virtuousness by the way in which they treat others with their words and actions ."
"At no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny, as when we are busy with preparations for it."
"For some reason all the middle-aged women he knew were very efficient."
"For a ten-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl to become good friends was not easy under any circumstances. Indeed, it might be one of the most difficult accomplishments in the world."
"The feeling of the wind, the sound of rushing water, the sense of sunlight breaking through the clouds, the colors of flowers as the seasons changed - everything around him felt changed, as if they had all been recast."
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