“They knew the difference between thoroughness and overkill. It was like Jay Gatsby's library: the books were real, but the pages were… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Have books ‘happened’ to you? Unless your answer to that question is ‘yes,’ I’m unsure how to talk to you — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose). — 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
I've translated a lot of American literature into Japanese, and I think that what makes a good translator is, above all, a… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“If you're looking for fine art or literature, you might want to read some stuff written by the Greeks. Because to create… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
It's true though: time moves in its own special way in the middle of the night," the bartender says, loudly striking a… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I can't imagine how American readers will react to a novel, but if the story is appealing it doesn't matter much if… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
When I write a novel I put into play all the information inside me. It might be Japanese information or it might… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Many people tell me that they don 't know what to feel when they finish one of my books because the story… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
There weren't any curtains in the windows, and the books that didn't fit into the bookshelf lay piled on the floor like… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
If you miss the bus, miss the train, you’d be left behind. So everyone says, let’s get on the train, let’s get… — 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
If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. The two processes complement… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
The good thing about writing books is that you can dream while you are awake. If it’s a real dream, you cannot… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
All things in my novels are real for me. Some western critics said that Garcia Marquez's novels are magic realism. However, I… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I'm not intelligent. I'm not arrogant. I'm just like the people who read my books. I used to have a jazz club,… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“In that sense, this is not a standard book of interviews. Nor is it what you might call a book of 'celebrity… — 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'm a very ordinary human being; I just happen to like reading books. — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
Like a Chinese box, the world of the novel contained smaller worlds, and inside those were yet smaller worlds. Together, these worlds… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“Nakata’s empty inside. I finally understand that. Nakata’s like a library without a single book. It wasn’t always like that. I used… — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
I didn't want to be a writer, but I became one. And now I have many readers, in many countries. I think… — 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 Image
If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“Intelligent teenage girls were often instinctively theatrical, purposely eccentric, mouthing highly suggestive words to confuse people.” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
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 Image
The most dangerous creature here would have to be me. So maybe I'm just scared of my own shadow. — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
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 Image
“that one of our problems was our inability to recognize and accept our own deformities” — Haruki Murakami Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
