Miyuki Miyabe Quotes & Sayings

Failure doesn't mean anyone did anything bad. Sometimes people fail even when they only do good things. Or they do what they think is good. Only with hindsight can anyone understand the failures they experience. — Miyuki Miyabe

Ico made to charge her again. The queen raised a clawlike nail, but Yorda stepped between them. Without a word, Yorda stretched out her arms in front of Ico, holding him back. Ico looked into her eyes and she shook her head, pleading with him. — Miyuki Miyabe

Look at yourself. Hatred and anger, kindness and bravery. They are all yours, and rightly so. Accept this, face it straight on, then ask yourself what it means to change your destiny. — Miyuki Miyabe

As long as there is happiness, there will be sadness. As long as there is fortune, there will be misfortune.
... What's real is something that not even the strength of the Goddess can change. The only one who can change it is me. If I don't change my destiny, if I don't cut through the obstacles in my path, then no matter where I go, I'll always be standing in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again, for the rest of my life. — Miyuki Miyabe

This is the nameless land, they say. To you, who for reasons unknowable glimpse here these words. Good people, do not mistake the terms of the agreement: Do not ask men for the story of the nameless land. Do not move lips and tongue in an imitation of the tongue of the nameless land. Do not treat as men those who are imprisoned in the nameless land. — Miyuki Miyabe

I'll take you with me. — Miyuki Miyabe

And there would be more partings, more losses, more wounds, over and over, again and again. He could change his destiny a hundred times, and each time another loss or separation would be waiting for him on the other side. As long as there is happiness, there will be sadness. As long as there is fortune, there will be misfortune. — Miyuki Miyabe

Ico thrust out his left hand, shouting to the girl. She had already sunk to her knees.
For the space of a breath, barely long enough to blink, she hesitated. Her eyes focused on Ico, questioning, trying to peer into the bottom of his soul. Where her gaze fell on him, he felt cool, as though clear water washed over him. He gasped with the sensation.
She thrust out her arm and grabbed his hand. — Miyuki Miyabe

Mistakes were mistakes, and failures were failures. Why torment someone with memories of their past? — Miyuki Miyabe

We are but an ephemeral bubble drifting on the surface of an endless void. Yet I can think of no bubble more beautiful. — Miyuki Miyabe

So far away, the one I love.
What sky are you under tonight?
What wind will my song ride...
To carry my voice to you?
Tell me, winds,
Where he may be.
Tell me, winds,
What star he looks upon.
My ears are like two white seashells,
Listening for dawn to come. — Miyuki Miyabe

At last, she made her decision and grabbed Ico's hand tightly. — Miyuki Miyabe

Ico stared at Yorda's face. It was beautiful. He didn't dare breathe for fear of breaking the spell. Her eyes were sparkling.
Thank you. — Miyuki Miyabe

There was love here, the voice said again.
But whose love? Ico wondered. He had assumed Ozuma had been talking about the queen and her daughter
but maybe ...
From the very first time he had seen her, Ico had wanted to save Yorda. There had been no thought, no reason
when he saw her in the cage, he knew he had to set her free. — Miyuki Miyabe

Your soul is dust to me. I will swallow you whole. — Miyuki Miyabe

Chikako could see Nobue's flowers reflected in Kaori's eyes. They looked like stars. Like love itself. — Miyuki Miyabe

(W)e have spent many ages attempting to divine the principles that move our world. It goes without saying that the road ahead of us is still long, and there is more that we do not know than we do. Were you to compare our knowledge now to a spoonful of sugar, that which we do not know would be a field of sugar cane stretching as far as the eye can see... To obtain knowledge from that field, we must cut it and refine it. We must learn the most effective ways of harvesting and the methods of removing impurities. All this we must obtain as well as simply the knowledge we seek. That is what it means to study and learn. — Miyuki Miyabe

Yorda slid down the side of the throne platform and walked again toward Ico. She moved differently now. This was not the Yorda he had led through the castle by the hand, the Yorda who would wander aimlessly if he did not call out to her. This was the queen's double, her puppet. — Miyuki Miyabe

He thrust his hands into the pool, his fingers brushing the soft skin of her cheek. He grasped at her, clawing with his fingers and pulling like his life depended on it. Finally, he managed to grab her shawl. The girl flailed out with her arm and it touched his hand.
"No! I'm not letting you go!"
Now the girl's face was above the swirling darkness. She gasped for breath, half drowned. The fear on her face sent a fresh jolt of energy through Ico. 'I've got to save her! — Miyuki Miyabe

One has to walk through the fields of knowledge to pick its flowers. Run, and you will miss the best blossoms. — Miyuki Miyabe

The girl turned to him and to his surprise, she smiled faintly. 'She's beautiful'. — Miyuki Miyabe

Yorda...that's your name? — Miyuki Miyabe

Ico ran back to the windmill, growing increasily nervous with each moment Yorda was out of his sight. He didn't want to think what would happen if the shadow-creatures attacked while they were apart. — Miyuki Miyabe

But do not misunderstand - I turned him to stone from compassion. Stone men have stone hearts, and stone hearts cannot be wounded or broken. I would show you the same compassion, if you wish it. — Miyuki Miyabe

Vesna Esta Holicia, until you shine again, into vision, into the real world. Though a child of man knows time, life itself is eternal. — Miyuki Miyabe

But, every once in a while, even the most normal of people act in ways that surprise themselves, doing things they might never have imagined themselves doing because they're excited, or they're obsessed, or they're in love. — Miyuki Miyabe

Don't give up hope. — Miyuki Miyabe

For the very young to rail against their own bitter fate, they must draw upon all their strength and spirit. That is why they are so steadfast. — Miyuki Miyabe

But the boy protected Yorda from the shadows-that-walk-alone. He took her hand, defended her, swung his thin arm, and fought with his tiny frame, driving them back. If the shades dragged her into their realm, she would once again become a prisoner, and the boy would turn to stone, a sad adornment in the castle. Yorda knew this. But the boy did not
even as he did not know that Yorda was the property of the queen of the castle
and he protected her. — Miyuki Miyabe

If men were reduced to sacrificing other men to appease the darkness, the Dark god's reign had already begun. — Miyuki Miyabe

Gradually, strength returned to Yorda's body and she gripped his hand. Ico gripped back. Yorda sat up on the floor, but her eyes were still distant.
Suddenly, Ico felt cold. A chill emanated from Yorda's body as he held her in his arms, as though she were a pitcher that had just been filled with ice water. He had the sensation that something else was inside the girl, pushing aside the Yorda he knew. — Miyuki Miyabe

The memory was so vivid that, like a fresh scab, he was sure he would start to bleed if he picked at it. — Miyuki Miyabe

It was all right to be sad. It was all right to lament. It was all right to feel anger. But [is] not all right to run away. — Miyuki Miyabe

What is good, and what is evil? Where do you draw the line between the two?" Now Yuriko was getting a little upset. I'm just in fifth grade, you know. They haven't taught us difficult things like that yet. "There — Miyuki Miyabe

No matter where I go, sadness follows. No matter how much time passes it won't go away. You get only one heart when you're born, and you can't turn it in or get it repaired. The only thing that fills it is more sadness. I'm surprised there's any room left in there at all. — Miyuki Miyabe

Love is the most important thing a person can knowIf you should win love once, you'll know it is harder than death to let go. — Miyuki Miyabe

Filled with hope, Ico looked into Yorda's eyes. He felt like was looking into an hourglass, trying to pick through the grains of sand for some truth buried there long ago. He hadn't found anything yet, but the warmth of Yorda's hands in his told him that he was getting close. — Miyuki Miyabe

Failure and disillusionment are realities, but ideologies are made of dreams. And dreams, it would seem, do not fade easily. — Miyuki Miyabe

But, my son. I knew love here as well. — Miyuki Miyabe

One of the girls saw her, then did a double-take. Her eyes sparkled. Not a bright sparkle, but a dull, dark sparkle, like the twinkling of a lantern at the bottom of a deep well. Here's something fun, her eyes said. Here's something freakish. Let's play with it and see if we can make it cry. — Miyuki Miyabe

She had gone quite a distance. He had to backtrack a significant way, stopping to call out every few paces. When at last he found Yorda, the sight of her slender frame sent a stab of pain through Ico's chest as he remembered the girl he had seen in the water.
He reached out his hand to her. — Miyuki Miyabe

There's a point to all the mistakes, the comebacks, the rethinking, the living
the living for all you're worth. There's a point to finding our own path. Please, give the people of Vision a chance to find theirs. — Miyuki Miyabe

No matter how confused, how tired, or how sad, every night has its morning. — Miyuki Miyabe

Don't confuse a kid whining for a treat with the argument of a rigorous, logical mind, he had said, as logical as ever. — Miyuki Miyabe

Above a certain size and level of prosperity, regional cities in Japan look alike. To discover what makes each one different, one has to sample the food and the sake, and stay long enough to see the patterns of life under the surface. Otherwise it can be hard to tell them apart. Wealth tends to smooth out the differences in the way people live. Life becomes standardized.

Only in nature, in the mountains and valleys beyond the hand of man, are the real differences, the real uniqueness, preserved. There is something about the air in Hokkaido, a kind of richness that will never change. For better or worse, the only thing that really changes is people. — Miyuki Miyabe

But the boy was there, and he was looking at her. That was when Yorda understood what was drawing out her memories of the castle into the boy. It was him. He wanted to know its dark past. He wanted to know everything. No one could stop this. Not even the queen. — Miyuki Miyabe

What you don't know, boy, is that people have feelings that don't obey logic ... Once you know true love, how could you settle for anything less? — Miyuki Miyabe

Your adventure is your own. No one may ever take it from you. — Miyuki Miyabe

She put a hand on his arm and gently pushed.
"What?" Ico asked, his voice hoarse. "You want me to run away by myself, too?"
Yorda nodded. — Miyuki Miyabe

All stories are the sin of their weaver. — Miyuki Miyabe

Ico took the girls hand in his own, the gesture feeling intensely familiar, as the sun shone brightly over the end of their long story. — Miyuki Miyabe

Only the very top of the arched ceiling remained in shadow, as though some dark creature lurked there, devouring all light that strayed too close. — Miyuki Miyabe

Not all new knowledge is beautiful, or even to be desired. Yet there comes a time when, no matter how hard it is to accept what we see, no matter how much we do not want to believe it, our studies will cease and we will learn no more. Though the world may point and criticize, if the truth has been found, sometimes you must shout it from the rooftops in the face of all opposition. The pursuit of knowledge requires an iron will that always looks forward and never falters. — Miyuki Miyabe

Do not waste your life in vain, or take life in vain. Where there is faith, there is also kindness and forgiveness, and where there is forgiveness, there you will find true balance - the most coveted prize of all. It is easy to stray, misled by one's own greed, or by easy pleasure. Men are weak, and many step off the path never knowing it. It is nothing but a gentle lie to say that most will find heaven when they die. Traveler, by your faith, forgive those who stand in your way. Yet, if they should seek to betray truth, then wield justice to bring their journey to its rightful end. — Miyuki Miyabe

Yorda turned away from the shadow-creature just as its claws were about to close on her shoulders. Her eyes met Ico's, then fell to his outstretched hand.
Finally, fear spurred her to action. She ran and jumped. — Miyuki Miyabe