Banana Yoshimoto

The ritual of our daily lives permeate our very bodies.

— Banana Yoshimoto

Nothing exists in this world but me and my bed…” (p. 141).

— Banana Yoshimoto

Over and over, we begin again.

— Banana Yoshimoto

Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life.

— Banana Yoshimoto

If you don’t say what you’re thinking, you end up lying when you really need to speak up.

— Banana Yoshimoto

I should have told her at the time. I could have taken a deep breath, looked away, and forced myself to say…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“My body knows not to respond to fake love. I guess maybe that’s what it means to have been brought up well.…

— Banana Yoshimoto

It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.

— Banana Yoshimoto

Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated.

— Banana Yoshimoto

“I got dressed to begin another day. Over and over, we begin again. (Kitchen, 103)”

— Banana Yoshimoto

“It was the truth. I felt a yearning love for every instant that passed.”

— Banana Yoshimoto

That's the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those…

— Banana Yoshimoto

You know, Chihiro, darling- all it takes is one little wrong step and you end up feeling frustrated your whole life, like…

— Banana Yoshimoto

As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Thanks so much for seeing, the first time you met us, that even though we’re like ghosts, the two of us, even…

— Banana Yoshimoto

it'll be this kind of deep blue”she said. “The kind of color that somehow sucks your eyes and your ears and all…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Eriko raised me that way," he said, laughing. "If I didn't open the door for her, she'd get mad and refuse to…

— Banana Yoshimoto

I was happy. I loved the night, I loved t so much it almost hurt. In the night everything seemed possible. I…

— Banana Yoshimoto

Here in this ocean, in the midst of all this water, with the red flags on those distant buoys flapping in the…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Living like that utterly convinced me of the extreme limitations of language. I was just a child then, so I had only…

— Banana Yoshimoto

The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“With Lizard, I felt overwhelmed by the desire to touch her skin, to kiss her, hold her, make love to her,no matter…

— Banana Yoshimoto

To the extent that I had come to understand that despair does not necessarily result in annihilation, that one can go on…

— Banana Yoshimoto

The way we think may be completely different, but you and I are an ancient, archetypal couple, the original man and woman.…

— Banana Yoshimoto

I saw the sky and sea and sand and the flickering flames of the bonfire through my tears. All at once, it…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Perhaps it’s because she spends all her time sleeping—she comes and goes just as she pleases in the world of her dreams,…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“She walks away as if she were going to disappear. I wonder if I’ll ever see her again." I turned and saw…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Your love is different from mine. What I mean is, when you close your eyes, for that moment, the center of the…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give up; I wanted to give up on living. There was no denying…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“That night, having wriggled down into my futon all alone, I found myself in the grips of a wrenching sadness. I was…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Just because things turned out badly in the end doesn’t mean that anything has changed in my relationship with my mother. Everything…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“We've done so much together, wherever I go and whatever I see, I think of you. Newborn babies; the pattern on the…

— Banana Yoshimoto

“ Life is a performance, I thought. Perthaps the word "illusion" would have meant more or less the same thing, but to…

— Banana Yoshimoto

Was that what it means to be an adult, to live with ugly ambiguities?

— Banana Yoshimoto

People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces. Defeat comes from within.

— Banana Yoshimoto

“Everything in my life revolves around people playing at being something.”

— Banana Yoshimoto

“When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place. I”

— Banana Yoshimoto

“beyond that, I couldn’t say. There’s no point thinking about the future. That”

— Banana Yoshimoto

In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions much of one's life history is etched in the senses.

— Banana Yoshimoto

“it was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness”

— Banana Yoshimoto