Kafka on the Shore Quotes

“Well, think of what I’m doing to you right now. For me I’m the self, and you’re the object. For you, of course, it’s the exact opposite—you’re the self to you and I’m the object. And by exchanging self and object, we can project ourselves onto the other and gain self-consciousness. Volitionally.” “I still don’t get it, but it sure feels good.” “That’s the whole idea,” the girl said.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“رُبما مُعظم البشر لا يُحاولون أن يكونوا أحراراً ، هم فقط يعتقدون أنهم كذلك ، كُل هذا مُجرد وَهم ولو صاروا أحراراً فعلاً فـسيقعون في مأزق حقيقي .... الناس لا يُحبون أن يكونوا أحراراً حقاً.”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“هناك نوع من الكمال لا يمكن إدراكه سوى عبر التراكم غير المحدود للنقائص.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“In the afternoon dark clouds suddenly color the sky a mysterious shade and it starts raining hard, pounding the roof and windows of the cabin. I strip naked and run outside, washing my face with soap and scrubbing myself all over. It feels wonderful. In my joy I shut my eyes and shout out meaningless words as the large raindrops strike me on the cheeks, the eyelids, chest, side, penis, legs, and butt - the stinging pain like a religious initiation or something. Along with the pain there's a feeling of closeness, like for once in my life the world's treating me fairly. I feel elated, as if all of a sudden I've been set free. I face the sky, hands held wide apart, open my mouth wide, and gulp down the falling rain.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Kafka, in everybody's life there's a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That's how we survive.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“You're you, you see, and nobody else. You are you, right?”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Nakata let his body relax, switched off his mind, allowing things to flow through him. This was natural for him, something he'd done ever since he was a child, without a second thought. Before long the borders of his consciousness fluttered around, just like the butterflies. Beyond these borders lay a dark abyss. Occasionally his consciousness would fly over the border and hover over that dizzying black crevasse. But Nakata wasn't afraid of the darkness or how deep it was. And why should he be? That bottomless world of darkness, that weighty silence and chaos, was an old friend, a part of him already. Nakata understood this well. In that world there was no writing, no days of the week, no scary Governor, no opera, no BMWs. No scissors, no tall hats. On the other hand, there was also no delicious eel, no tasty bean-jam buns. Everything is there, but there are no parts. Since there are no parts, there's no need to replace one thing with another. No need to remove anything, or add anything. You don't have to think about difficult things, just let yourself soak it all in. For Nakata, nothing could be better.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“لا أندفع في القراءة كأنني في سباق، بل أعيد قراءة الأجزاء التي أعتقد أنها الأهم حتى أفهم مغزاها.”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“You have to look!" Johnnie Walker commanded. "That's another one of our rules. Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what going on. In fact, things will be even worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in, Mr. Nakata. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“It feels like everything's been decided in advance that I'm following a path somebody else has already mapped out for me. It doesn't matter how much I think things over, how much effort I put into it. In fact, the harder I try, the more I lose my sense of who I am. It's like my identity's an orbit that I've strayed far away from, and that really hurts. But more than that, it scares me. Just thinking about it makes me flinch.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Time passes slowly. Nobody says a word, everyone lost in quiet reading. One person sits at a desk jotting down notes, but the rest are sitting there silently, not moving, totally absorbed. Just like me.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“كانَ الـأحب إلى قلبي .. وكُنت أخشى أن أَفقده ذاتَ يوم، ولذا كانَ عليّ أن أتخلى عنهُ بنفسي، فإذا كان سيسرقُ مني أو سأفقُده في حادث فمن الـأفضل أن أتخلى عنهُ بنفسي.”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“People soon get tired of things that aren't boring, but not of what is boring. Go figure. For me, I might have the leisure to be bored, but not to grow tired of something. Most people can't distinguish between the two.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Things change every day, Mr Nakata. With each new dawn it's not the same world as the day before. And you're not the same person you were, either.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won’t be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there – to the edge of the world. There’s something you can’t do unless you get there.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“إنها ذكية وقوية . لقد احتملت بمفردها أفظع أنواع الوحدة لزمن طويل , وعانت الكثير من الذكريات المؤلمة , ففي مقدورها اتخاذ أي قرار تحتاج إليه بمفردها.”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“As long as I was alive, I was something. That was just how it was. But somewhere along the way it all changed. Living turned me into nothing.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“الناس يَملون سريعاً الـأشياء غير المُملة ولا يَملون ما هُوَ مُمل فعلاً.”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“But thing in the past are like plate that’s shattered to pieces. You can never put it back together like it was, right?”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Everything in life is a metaphor.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“There's only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Having an object that symbolizes freedom might make a person happier than actually getting the freedom it represents.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“The Earth, time, concepts, love, life, faith justice, evil - they're all fluid and in transition. They don't stay in one form or in one place forever. The whole universe is like some big FedEx box.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“Only people who've been discriminated against can really know how much it hurts. Each person feels the pain in his own way, each has his own scars. So I think I'm as concerned about fairness and justice as anybody. But what disgusts me even more are people who have no imagination. The kind T. S. Eliot calls hollow men. People who fill up that lack of imagination with heartless bits of straw, not even aware of what they're doing. Callous people who throw a lot of empty words at you, trying to force you to do what you don't want to. Like that lovely pair we just met.” He sighs and twirls the long slender pencil in his hand. “Gays, lesbians, straights, feminists, fascist pigs, communists, Hare Krishnas-- none of them bother me. I don't care what banner they raise. But what I can't stand are hollow people. When I'm with them I just can't bear it, and wind up saying things I shouldn't. With those women--I should've just let it slide, or else called Miss Saeki and let her handle it. She would have given them a smile and smoothed things over. But I just can't do “do that. I say things I shouldn't, do things I shouldn't do. I can't control myself. That's one of my weak points. Do you know why that's a weak point of mine?”
“'Cause if you take every single person who lacks much imagination seriously, there's no end to it,” I say.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.” Hoshino looked up, mouth half open, and gazed at her face. “What’s that?” “Henri Bergson,” she replied, licking the semen from the tip of his penis. [...] “I can’t think of anything special, but could you quote some more of that philosophy stuff? I don’t know why, but it might keep me from coming so quick. Otherwise I’ll lose it pretty fast.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“When I first met you I felt a kind of contradiction in you. You're seeking something, but at the same time running away for all you're worth.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“It was a strange feeling, like touching a void.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“I don’t know, I don’t feel right unless I’ve got the sea and mountains nearby. People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.”
― Murakami, Haruki, Kafka on the Shore

“دع النور يدخل إليك ويذيب برودة قلبك . هذا هو مغزى أن تكون قويا
مازال في مقدورك استرجاع نفسك . استخدم رأسك . فكر في ما يجدر بك فعله . أنت لست بمعتوه يجب أن تكون قادرا على ذلك”
― هاروكي موراكامي, Kafka on the Shore

“Why does loving somebody mean you have to hurt them just as much? I mean if that’s the way it goes, what’s the point of loving someone? Why the hell does it have to be like that?”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore