Writing Quotes by Haruki Murakami

“Writing a novel is like having a dream.”

— Haruki Murakami

“writing was like breathing.”

— Haruki Murakami

The good thing about writing book is that you can dream while you are awake...

— Haruki Murakami

Writers have to keep on writing if they want to mature, like caterpillars endlessly chewing on leaves.

— Haruki Murakami

A fortunate author can write maybe twelve novels in his lifetime.

— Haruki Murakami

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.

— Haruki Murakami

“It's difficult to teach how to write novels, but teaching swimming is just as hard.”

— Haruki Murakami

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

— Haruki Murakami

I had no ambition to be a writer because the books I read were too good, my standards were too high.

— Haruki Murakami

“Most people probably didn't think I'd make it as a professional writer. But I couldn't follow their advice.”

— Haruki Murakami

Writing talent is similar to the art of chatting up a girl. You can improve to a certain degree through practice, but…

— Haruki Murakami

I closed my own jazz bar so I could be a man who can write novels as I like. I was pleased…

— Haruki Murakami

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

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

How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to…

— Haruki Murakami

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

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

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

George Orwell is half journalist, half fiction writer. I'm 100 percent fiction writer... I don't want to write messages. I want to…

— Haruki Murakami

I didn't start running because somebody asked me to become a runner. Just like I didn't become a novelist because someone asked…

— Haruki Murakami

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

“Everything was too sharp and clear, so that I could never tell where to start - the way a map that shows…

— Haruki Murakami

You have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical,…

— Haruki Murakami

“I'm certified as an instructor and I do teach courses at a cram school, but I'm not exactly a teacher. I write…

— Haruki Murakami

I try not to think about anything special while running. As a matter of fact, I usually run with my mind empty.…

— Haruki Murakami

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

“Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I…

— Haruki Murakami

“My head is like some ridiculous barn packed full of stuff I want to write about,” she said. “Images, scenes, snatches of…

— Haruki Murakami

“Now a narrative is a story, not logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize…

— Haruki Murakami

“I don't think most people would like my personality. There might be a few--very few, I would imagine--who are impressed by it,…

— Haruki Murakami

“I believe that I have not been fair to you and that, as a result, I must have led you around in…

— Haruki Murakami

“Even when I ran my bar I followed the same policy. A lot of customers came to the bar. If one in…

— Haruki Murakami

If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. The two processes complement…

— Haruki Murakami

“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

I had my jazz club and I had enough money. So I didn't have to write for my living.

— Haruki Murakami

Sometimes we don't need words. Rather, it's words that need us.

— Haruki Murakami

When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

— Haruki Murakami

It's just like sex; when [a book is] finished, it's finished.

— Haruki Murakami

It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.

— Haruki Murakami

I'll write to you. A super-long letter, like in an old-fashioned novel

— Haruki Murakami