Quotes By Haruki Murakami

Many people tell me that they don 't know what to feel when they finish one of my books because the story was dark, or complicated, or strange. But while they were reading it, they were inside my world and they were happy. That's good.

Many people, especially young people, would like to be more independent and on their own. But it is very difficult and they suffer from feelings of isolation. I think that is one reason why young readers support my work.

I lost some of my friends because I got so famous, people who just assumed that I would be different now. I felt like everyone hated me. That is the most unhappy time of my life.

I'm not a fast thinker, but once I am interested in something, I am doing it for many years. I don't get bored.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

I'm a writer. I don't support any war. That's my principle.

I have no models in Japanese literature. I created my own style, my own way.

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.

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

I like to read books. I like to listen to music.

When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

You are 27 or 28 right? It is very tough to live at that age. When nothing is sure. I have sympathy with you.

I collect records. And cats. I don't have any cats right now. But if I'm taking a walk and I see a cat, I'm happy.

I'm kind of a big kettle. It takes time to get boiled, but then I'm always hot.

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.

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.

Young people these days don't trust anything at all. They want to be free.

Some people think literature is high culture and that it should only have a small readership. I don't think so... I have to compete with popular culture, including TV, magazines, movies and video games.

I don't get bored.

My priority is my books, at least at this point. What I have to do is write the narrative of this time.

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.

Most young people were getting jobs in big companies, becoming company men. I wanted to be individual.

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

It's physical. 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 strong.

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

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It's a parallel thing in me.

Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that's how we've got to live.

I had no ambition to be a writer because the books I read were too good, my standards were too high.

I don't want to express my opinion about actual politics, because if I do, I have to be responsible for my decision.

As a novelist, you could say that I am dreaming while I am awake, and every day I can continue with yesterday's dream. Because it is a dream, there are so many contradictions and I have to adjust them to make the story work. But, in principle, the original dream does not change.