Norwegian Wood Book Quotes & Sayings

I suddenly thought about my old girlfriend, the one I had first slept with in my third year of high school. Chills ran through me as I realized how badly I had treated her. I had hardly ever thought about her thoughts or feelings or the pain I had caused her. She was such a sweet and gentle thing, but at the time I had taken her sweetness for granted and later hardly gave her a second thought. What was she doing now? I wondered. And had she forgiven me? — Haruki Murakami

I thought about Kizuki. "So you finally made Naoko yours," I heard myself telling him. Oh, well, she was yours to begin with. Now maybe, she's where she belongs. But in this world, in this imperfect world of the living, I did the best I could for Naoko. — Haruki Murakami

I can never describe myself as a movie star. I don't know when that happens but it's certainly not me. — Olivia Wilde

When you sell in desperation, you always sell cheap. — Peter Lynch

Garrel has succeeded in filming something we have never seen before: the faces of actors in silent films during those moments when the black intertitles, with their paltry, illuminated words, filled the screen. — Serge Daney

It's not about perfect. It's about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs. — Jillian Michaels

It was that kind of kiss. But as with all kisses, it was not without a certain element of danger — Haruki Murakami

Regard [a friend] as loyal, and you will make him loyal. — Seneca.

I loved Midori. And I had probably known as much for a while. I had just been avoiding the conclusion for a very long time. — Haruki Murakami

I think of you now mare than ever. It's raining today. — Haruki Murakami

I have always loved Naoko, and I still loved her. But there is a decisive finality to what exists between Midori and me. — Haruki Murakami

Riches, the dumb god that giv'st all men tongues, / That canst do nought, and yet mak'st men do all things; / The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot, / Is made worth heaven! — Ben Jonson

You want to know why you felt that way about me even though you didn't love me. — Haruki Murakami

Not everybody is looking for a boyfriend with a sports car. — Haruki Murakami

No, it's not sick. I wish I could be the one to hold you, though, I said.
So hold me. Now. Right here. — Haruki Murakami

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. — Haruki Murakami

You may think or tell others that you are a realized person,
You may even convince others or deceive yourself;
But unless you have love for humanity and peace within,
Self-realization will never knock at your door. — Gian Kumar

I love you," I said to her. "From the bottom of my heart. I don't ever want to let you go again. But there's nothing I can do. I can't make a move."
"Because of her?"
I nodded. — Haruki Murakami

There was much about him that was fine and beautiful, but he could never find the confidence he needed. — Haruki Murakami

Too many memories of her were crammed inside of me, and as soon as one of them found the slightest opening, the rest would force their way out in an endless stream, an unstoppable flood. — Haruki Murakami

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. — Haruki Murakami

Once upon a time, you dragged a part of me into the world of the dead, and now Naoko has dragged another pat of me into that world. — Haruki Murakami

It's hard not being able to see you, but my life in Tokyo would be a lot worse if it weren't for you. — Haruki Murakami

Here I was, seeing you almost every week, and talking with you, and knowing that the only one in your heart was Kizuki. It hurt. It really hurt. And I think that's why I slept with girls I didn't know. — Haruki Murakami

I'd swallow some whiskey and listen to the waves while I thought about Naoko. It was too strange to think that she was dead and no longer part of this world. I couldn't absorb the truth of it. I couldn't believe it. I had heard the nails being driven into the lid of her coffin, but I still couldn't adjust to the fact that she had returned to nothingness. — Haruki Murakami

One thing became crystal clear to me when I couldn't see you anymore. I realized that the only way I had been able to survive until then was having you in my life. When I lost you, the pain and loneliness really got to me. — Haruki Murakami

I decided a long time ago but sometimes it takes you 40 years to get around to doing something - and that's the truthful answer. — Dustin Hoffman

The second part of that war was that Muslims came from all over the country to Pakistan, and they met each other. For the first time those men had an awareness of the Islamic world as a whole, not of just Egypt or Algeria or Indonesia, but of what Muslims call the Uma, the Islamic community. And that's an extraordinarily important thing. And that emanated in Pakistan. — Michael Scheuer