--- title: "3 Cult Quotes By Haruki Murakami" description: "3 Cult quotes by Haruki Murakami. Plus more from Haruki Murakami and more Cult sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32b/haruki-murakami-21_book_i-could-have-been-a-cult-writer-if-i-d-k_742506.jpg" --- > [I could have been a cult writer if I'd kept writing surrealistic novels. But I wanted to break into the mainstream, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-could-have-been-a-cult-writer-if-i-d-kept-writing-surrealistic/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32b/haruki-murakami-21_book_i-could-have-been-a-cult-writer-if-i-d-k_742506.jpg) > [“I feel very strongly that all Japanese at that time had the idea drilled into them of 1999 being the end of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-at-that-time-had-the-idea/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/haruki-murakami-21_cult_i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-a_2082486.jpg) > [“If you lose your ego, you lose the thread of that narrative you call your Self. Humans, however, can't live very long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/if-you-lose-your-ego-you-lose-the-thread-of-that-narrative-you-call/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63e/haruki-murakami-21_cult_if-you-lose-your-ego-you-lose-the-thread_2616618.jpg) ## Other authors on Cult - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-frederick-lenz-36205.jpg) Frederick Lenz 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cult/frederick-lenz/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-rick-ross-79080.jpg) Rick Ross 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cult/rick-ross/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-heinemeier-hansson-27552.jpg) Michael Salter 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cult/michael-salter/) ## More by Haruki Murakami > [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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-always-feel-like-i-m-struggling-to-become-someone-else-like-i-m/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/if-writing-novels-is-like-planting-a-forest-then-writing-short/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“The sad truth is that what I could recall in five seconds all too soon needed ten, then thirty, thena full minute...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/the-sad-truth-is-that-what-i-could-recall-in-five-seconds-all-too/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Intelligent teenage girls were often instinctively theatrical, purposely eccentric, mouthing highly suggestive words to confuse people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/intelligent-teenage-girls-were-often-instinctively-theatrical/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/memory-is-like-fiction-or-else-it-s-fiction-that-s-like-memory-this/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [The most dangerous creature here would have to be me. So maybe I'm just scared of my own shadow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/the-most-dangerous-creature-here-would-have-to-be-me-so-maybe-i-m/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [If you listen to the radio for a whole hour there's maybe one decent song. The rest is mass-produced garbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/if-you-listen-to-the-radio-for-a-whole-hour-there-s-maybe-one-decent/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“that one of our problems was our inability to recognize and accept our own deformities”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/that-one-of-our-problems-was-our-inability-to-recognize-and-accept/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“When I look back at myself at age twenty, what I remember most is being alone and lonely. I had no girlfriend to warm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/when-i-look-back-at-myself-at-age-twenty-what-i-remember-most-is/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/there-s-not-a-branch-of-publishing-or-broadcasting-that-doesn-t/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/one-by-one-i-ll-face-the-tasks-before-me-and-complete-them-as-best-i/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/eleven-o-clock-had-come-and-gone-i-had-to-find-a-way-to-bring-this/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/some-people-get-a-kick-out-of-reading-railway-timetables-and-that-s/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/when-the-time-comes-everybody-s-got-to-end-up-where-they-belong-only/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“You let something out of the bag before yourself knew what it was all about”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/you-let-something-out-of-the-bag-before-yourself-knew-what-it-was-all/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cult/haruki-murakami/#itemlist", "name": "3 Cult Quotes By Haruki Murakami", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I could have been a cult writer if I'd kept writing surrealistic novels. 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They lose something - but gain something in return.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Haruki Murakami" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-at-that-time-had-the-idea/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/haruki-murakami-21_cult_i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-a_2082486.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/haruki-murakami-21_cult_i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-a_2082486.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/haruki-murakami-21_cult_i-feel-very-strongly-that-all-japanese-a_2082486.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I feel very strongly that all Japanese at that time had the idea drilled into them of 1999 being the end of…” — Haruki Murakami", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If you lose your ego, you lose the thread of that narrative you call your Self. Humans, however, can't live very long without some sense of a continuing story. Such stories go beyond the limited rational system (or the systematic rationality) with which you surround yourself; they are crucial keys to sharing time-experience with others. Now a narrative is a story, not a logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in these stories you wear two faces. You are simultaneously subject and object. You are a whole and you are a part. You are real and you are shadow. \"Storyteller\" and at the same time \"character\". It is through such multilayering of roles in our stories that we heal the loneliness of being an isolated individual in the world. Yet without a proper ego nobody can create a personal narrative, any more than you can drive a car without an engine, or cast a shadow without a real physical object. But once you've consigned your ego to someone else, where on earth do you go from there? At this point you receive a new narrative from the person to whom you have entrusted your ego. You've handed over the real thing, so what comes back is a shadow. And once your ego has merged with another ego, your narrative will necessarily take on the narrative created by that ego. Just what kind of narrative? It needn't be anything particularly fancy, nothing complicated or refined. You don't need to have literary ambitions. In fact, the sketchier and simpler the better. Junk, a leftover rehash will do. Anyway, most people are tired of complex, multilayered scenarios-they are a potential letdown. 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