Quotes by Haruki Murakami

About Haruki Murakami:

Haruki Murakami is a contemporary 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.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can't be learned at school.

Haruki Murakami

If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings.

Haruki Murakami

No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being a novelist.

Haruki Murakami

I watched the moon alone, unable to share his cold beauty with anyone.

Haruki Murakami

When I look back at myself at age twenty, what I remember most is being alone and lonely. I had no girlfriend to warm my body or my soul, no friends I could open up to. No clue what I should do every day, no vision for the future. For the most part, ...

Haruki Murakami

Dreams are the kind of things you can borrow and lend out.

Haruki Murakami

The way surviving hard winters makes a tree grows stronger, the growth rings inside it tighter

Haruki Murakami

I've run the Boston Marathon 6 times before. I think the best aspects of the marathon are the beautiful changes of the scenery along the route and the warmth of the people's support. I feel happier every time I enter this marathon.

Haruki Murakami

You know, if you are kind of rich, the best thing is that you don't have to think about money. The best thing you can buy with money is freedom, time. I don't know how much I earn a year. I have no idea. I don't know how much I pay in taxes.

Haruki Murakami

He was glad to be human. For sure, it was a great inconvenience to have to walk on two legs and wear clothes. There were so many things he didn’t know. Yet had he been a fish or a sunflower, and not a human being, he might never have experienced th...

Haruki Murakami

He decided not to ask for details. Better to avoid exposing his ignorance even further.

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...

Haruki Murakami

All I know is I'm totally alone. All alone i n an unfamiliar place, like some solitary explorer who's lost his compass and his map. Is this what it means to be free? I don't know, and I give up thinking about it.

Haruki Murakami

I might have been afraid that if I really loved someone and needed her, one day she might suddenly disappear without a word, and I'd be left all alone.

Haruki Murakami

El amor que se profesaban era tan verdadero que no había ninguna necesidad de ponerlo a prueba. El destino los había unido con un lazo tan fuerte que solo es posible encontrar uno igual entre un millón

Haruki Murakami

People want to be bowled over by something special. Nine times out of ten you might strike out, but that tenth time, that peak experience, is what people want. That's what can move the world. That's art.

Haruki Murakami

If I choose to write about sheep, it's just because I happened to write about sheep. There is no deep significance.

Haruki Murakami

The very thought of such people’s intolerant worldview, their inflated sense of self superiority, and their callous imposition of their own beliefs on others was enough to fill her with rage.

Haruki Murakami

I think serious readers of books are 5% of the population. If there are good TV shows or a World Cup or anything, that 5% will keep on reading books very seriously, enthusiastically. And if a society banned books, they would go into the forest and re...

Haruki Murakami

Maybe it's been like that for you till now. But you're not a kid anymore. You have the right to choose your own life. You can start again. If you want a cat, all you have to do is choose a life in which you can have a cat. It's simple. It's your righ...

Haruki Murakami

People change,' Sara said. 'True enough,' Tsukuru said. 'People do change. And no matter how close we once were, and how much we opened up to each other, maybe neither of us knew anything substantial about the other.

Haruki Murakami

Author Bio

  • NameHaruki Murakami
  • DescriptionJapanese author, novelist
  • AliasesMurakami Haruki
  • BornJanuary 12, 1949
  • CountryJapan
  • ProfessionLinguist; Novelist; Writer; Translator; Essayist
  • WorksA Wild Sheep Chase; Norwegian Wood; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Kafka On The Shore; 1Q84
  • AwardsFranz Kafka Prize; Yomiuri Prize; Tanizaki Prize; Jerusalem Prize; Noma Literary Prize; World Fantasy Award For Best Novel; Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award