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

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.

Haruki Murakami

In Japan they prefer the realistic style. They like answers and conclusions, but my stories have none. I want to leave them wide open to every possibility. I think my readers understand that openness.

Haruki Murakami

I began running on an everyday basis after I became a writer. As being a writer requires sitting at a desk for hours a day, without getting some exercise you'd quickly get out of shape and gain weight, I figured.

Haruki Murakami

If you want to talk about something new, you have to make up a new kind of language.

Haruki Murakami

For novelists or musicians, if they really want to create something, they need to go downstairs and find a passage to get into the second basement. What I want to do is go down there, but still stay sane.

Haruki Murakami

I am 55 years old now. It takes three years to write one book. I don't know how many books I will be able to write before I die. It is like a countdown. So with each book I am praying - please let me live until I am finished.

Haruki Murakami

If you cannot concentrate, you are not so happy.

Haruki Murakami

I don't think of myself as an artist. I'm just a guy who can write.

Haruki Murakami

Most near-future fictions are boring. It's always dark and always raining, and people are so unhappy.

Haruki Murakami

Every day I go to my study and sit at my desk and put the computer on. At that moment, I have to open the door. It's a big, heavy door. You have to go into the Other Room. Metaphorically, of course. And you have to come back to this side of the room....

Haruki Murakami

I used to run a full marathon in three hours and 25 or 26 minutes. Not any more.

Haruki Murakami

If you keep on writing for three years, every day, you should be strong. Of course, you have to be strong mentally, also. But in the first place, you have to be strong physically. That is a very important thing. Physically and mentally you have to be...

Haruki Murakami

I was enjoying myself writing, because I don't know what's going to happen when I take a ride around that corner. You don't know at all what you're going to find there. That can be thrilling when you read a book, especially when you're a kid and you'...

Haruki Murakami

Writing is fun - at least mostly. I write for four hours every day. After that I go running. As a rule, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). That's easy to manage.

Haruki Murakami

A fortunate author can write maybe twelve novels in his lifetime.

Haruki Murakami

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

Haruki Murakami

I myself have been on my own and utterly independent since I graduated. I haven't belonged to any company or any system. It isn't easy to live like this in Japan.

Haruki Murakami

I am worrying about my country. I feel I have a responsibility as a novelist to do something.

Haruki Murakami

I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration.

Haruki Murakami

I could have been a cult writer if I'd kept writing surrealistic novels. But I wanted to break into the mainstream, so I had to prove that I could write a realistic book.

Haruki Murakami

I started writing at the kitchen table after midnight. It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to a publisher and I got some kind of prize, so it was like a dream - I was surprised to find it happening.

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