The sense of tragedy - according to Aristotle - comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist's weak points but from his good qualities. Do you know what I'm getting at? People are drawn deeper...

The Earth slowly keeps on turning. But beyond any of those details of the real, there are dreams. And everyone's living in them.

* Everyone who loves is in search of its lost parts of himself. That is why the lover is sad when he thinks about his lover, as you come to a room in which you lived in memories dear to you, and a...

That backpack's like your symbol of freedom, he comments.Guess so, I say.Having an object that symbolizes freedom might make a person happier than actually getting the freedom it represents.Sometimes,...

Whatever you are looking for will not arrive in the way you expect it

We all die and disappear, but that's because the mechanism of the world itself is built on destruction and loss.

In a world of time, nothing can go back to the way it was.

I'm not trying to imply I can keep up this silent, isolated facade all the time.Sometimes the wall I've erected around me comes crumbling down. It doesn't happenvery often, but sometimes, before I...

It's all a question of imagination. Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine. It's just as Yeats said: "In dreams begin responsibility. Turn this on its head and you could say that where...

Beethoven, he learned, was a proud man who believed absolutely in his own abilities and never bothered to flatter the nobility. Believing that art itself, and the proper expression of emotions, was...

Everyone of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at...

Like flowers scattered in a storm, man's life is one long farewell

The facts and techniques or whatever they teach you in class isn't going to be veryuseful in the real world, that's for sure.

Her smile steps offstage for a moment, then does an encore, all while I'm dealing with my blushing face.

Reality's just the accumulation of ominous prophecies come to life. All you have to do is open a newspaper on any given day to weigh the good news versus the bad news, and you'll see what I mean.

She's kind of funny looking. Her face is out of balance--broad forehead, buttonnose, freckled cheeks, and pointy ears. A slammed-together, rough sort of face you can't ignore. Still, the whole package...

Your problem is that your shadow is a bit - how should I put it? Faint. I thought this the first time I laid eyes on you, that the shadow you cast on the ground is only half as dark as that of...

There are a lot of things that aren't your fault. Or mine, either. Not the fault of prophecies, or curses, or DNA, or absurdity. Not the fault of Structuralism or the Third Industrial Revolution. We...

Slowly like a movie fade out, the real world evaporates. I'm alone, inside the world of the story. My favorite feeling in the world.

The world of the grotesque is the darkness within us.

You have to overcome the fear and anger inside you," the boy named Crow says. "Let a bright light shine in and melt the coldness in your heart. That's what being tough is all about. Do that and you...

I know I'm a little different from everyone else, but I'm still human being. That's what I'd like you to realize. I'm just a regular person, not some monster. I feel the same things everyone else...

Not that running away's going to solve everything. I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but I wouldn't count on escaping this place if I were you. No matter how far you run. Distance might...

People are by and large a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel's always linked to the lie of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.

It's all a question of imagination. Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine.

Become like a sheet of blotting paper and soak it all in. Later on you can figure out what to keep and what to unload.

You know what I should do? Hoshino asked excited. Of course, the cat said. What'd I tell you? Cats know everything. Not like dogs.

That's what love's all about. You're the only one having those wonderful feelings, but you have to go it alone as you wander through the dark your mind and body have to bear it all. All by yourself.

I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of -- that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect...I find that encouraging.

Writing things was important, wasn't it? Nakata asked.'Yes, it was. The process of writing was important. Even though the finished product is completely meaningless.