I'm not a fast reader. I like to linger over each sentence, enjoying the style. If I don't enjoy the writing, I… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
In Japan, the writers have made up a literary community, a circle, a society. I think 90 percent of Japan's writers live… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be… But that's the fun of writing a novel… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Whenever I write a novel, I have a strong sense that I am doing something I was unable to do before. With… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
When I was a teenager, I thought how great it would be if only I could write novels in English. I had… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing, not associating with all the people… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
You have to dream intentionally. Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do.… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“Writing from memory like this, I often feel a pang of dread. What if I've forgotten the most important thing? What if… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I wrote my first two long novels and an anthology of short narratives, when I was a manager of my own jazz… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“Your readers have seen a sky with one moon in it any number of times, right? But I doubt they've seen a… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
My only passions were books and music. As you might guess, I led a lonely life… Not that I knew what I… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I wrote a huge number of letters that spring: one a week to Naoko, several to Reiko, and several more to Midori.… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I think memory is the most important asset of human beings. It's a kind of fuel; it burns and it warms you.… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
When a writer develops a story, he is confronted with a poison that is inside him. If you don't have that poison,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Sometimes I wonder why I'm a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I write weird stories. I don't know why I like weirdness so much ... But when I write, I write weird. That's… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I closed my own jazz bar so I could be a man who can write novels as I like. I was pleased… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I am 55 years old now. It takes three years to write one book. I don't know how many books I will… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
What I'd like to be is a unique writer who's different from everybody else. I want to be a writer who tells… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Writing talent is similar to the art of chatting up a girl. You can improve to a certain degree through practice, but… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Stories lie deep in our souls. Stories lie so deep at the bottom of our hearts that they can bring people together… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Every writer has his writing technique - what he can and can't do to describe something like war or history. I'm not… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I started writing at the kitchen table after midnight. It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“That's how it is with art. Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning are incapable of… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“mediocrity is a constant, as one Russian writer put it. Russians have a way with aphorisms. They probably spend all winter thinking… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I generally concentrate on work for three or four hours every morning. I sit at my desk and focus totally on what… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Generally, people who are good at writing letters have no need to write letters. They've got plenty of life to lead inside… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Writing is fun - at least mostly. I write for four hours every day. After that I go running. As a rule,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“Exactly. When is comes to anything halfway important, you just don't get it. It's amazing to me that you can put a… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Music always stimulates my imagination. When I'm writing I usually have some Baroque music on low in the background chamber music by… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“I like to write. I like to choose the right word, I like to write the right sentence. It's just like gardening… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I myself, as I'm writing, don't know who did it. The readers and I are on the same ground. When I start… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I try not to think about anything special while running. As a matter of fact, I usually run with my mind empty.… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Since I have come to America, I am often asked whether my next novel will be set in America. I don't think… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“Everything was too sharp and clear, so that I could never tell where to start - the way a map that shows… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I always feel like I'm struggling to become someone else. Like I'm trying to find a new place, grab hold of a new life,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“The sad truth is that what I could recall in five seconds all too soon needed ten, then thirty, thena full minute...” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“Intelligent teenage girls were often instinctively theatrical, purposely eccentric, mouthing highly suggestive words to confuse people.” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
Memory is like fiction; or else it's fiction that's like memory. This really came home to me once I started writing fiction, that memory… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
The most dangerous creature here would have to be me. So maybe I'm just scared of my own shadow. — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
If you listen to the radio for a whole hour there's maybe one decent song. The rest is mass-produced garbage — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“that one of our problems was our inability to recognize and accept our own deformities” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“When I look back at myself at age twenty, what I remember most is being alone and lonely. I had no girlfriend to warm… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“There's not a branch of publishing or broadcasting that doesn't depend in some way on advertising. It'd be like an aquarium without water. Why,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“One by one, I'll face the tasks before me and complete them as best I can. Focusing on each stride forward, but at the… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“Eleven o'clock had come and gone. I had to find a way to bring this conversation to a successful conclusion and get out of… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“Some people get a kick out of reading railway timetables and that's all they do all day. Some people make huge model boats out… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“When the time comes, everybody’s got to end up where they belong. Only me, I didn’t have a place to call my own. It’s… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
“You let something out of the bag before yourself knew what it was all about” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share
