--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: They sat on a park bench, held hands, and…" description: "\"They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/haruki-murakami-21_after-hours_they-sat-on-a-park-bench-held-hands-and_1404800.jpg" --- # They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other… ![“They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle.” quote by Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/haruki-murakami-21_after-hours_they-sat-on-a-park-bench-held-hands-and_1404800.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/haruki-murakami-21_after-hours_they-sat-on-a-park-bench-held-hands-and_1404800.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/haruki-murakami-21_after-hours_they-sat-on-a-park-bench-held-hands-and_1404800.jpg) > “They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle.” [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Two people find deep connection, ending loneliness and feeling a perfect, almost fated partnership. **In simple terms:** Finding a perfect partner ends loneliness. Key Takeaway Seek authentic connection. Themes love loneliness destiny Mood joyful hopeful Type romantic inspirational When to use this quote - romantic relationships - friendship - support groups Key Concepts interpersonal resonance miracle of companionship Questions to Reflect On - What does “perfect” mean to you? - How can you nurture connection without idealizing? A Different Perspective The notion of a “100% perfect other” can be idealistic and unrealistic. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [After hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/after-hours/) [Benches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/benches/) [Cosmic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmic/) [Cosmic Miracle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmic-miracle-3083175/) [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Held Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/held-hands/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [Lonely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lonely/) [Miracle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracle/) [Miracle Cosmic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracle-cosmic-3083176/) [Miracles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracles/) [Park benches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/park-benches/) [Parks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parks/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Perfect Miracle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect-miracle-1121751/) [Sat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sat/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Wonderful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonderful/) ## Related quotes > [“What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/what-a-wonderful-thing-it-is-to-find-and-be-found-by-your-100-perfect/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/once-upon-a-time-there-lived-a-boy-and-a-girl-the-boy-was-eighteen/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [“In the molten fire where he lay he could watch the slow machinations of eternity, the cosmic miracle of each second being born, eggshaped,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/in-the-molten-fire-where-he-lay-he-could-watch-the-slow-machinations/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-me-every-hour-of-the-day-and-night-is-an-unspeakably-perfect/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Friendship may just be nature's perfect miracle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/friendship-may-just-be-nature-s-perfect-miracle/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every hour of every day is an unspeakably perfect miracle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/every-hour-of-every-day-is-an-unspeakably-perfect-miracle/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [ Cryptography \[without system integrity\] is like investing in an armored car to carry money between a customer living in a cardboard box and a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-spafford/cryptography-without-system-integrity-is-like-investing-in-an-armored/) [Gene Spafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-spafford/) > [On a park bench on 12th street, my whole crew's famous, you try bust your gat and keep it rel but you nameless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/on-a-park-bench-on-12th-street-my-whole-crew-s-famous-you-try-bust/) [Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/) > [“For awhile, I was left with nothing on the physical plane. I had no relationships, no job, no home, no socially defined identity. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/for-awhile-i-was-left-with-nothing-on-the-physical-plane-i-had-no/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Spotted Park Bench I am a park bench. Ordinary words cannot express my thoughts on birds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-patrick-lewis/spotted-park-bench-i-am-a-park-bench-ordinary-words-cannot-express-my/) [J. Patrick Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-patrick-lewis/) > [Using encryption on the Internet is the equivalent of arranging an armored car to deliver credit card information from someone living in a cardboard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-spafford/using-encryption-on-the-internet-is-the-equivalent-of-arranging-an/) [Gene Spafford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-spafford/) > [Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/each-of-us-needs-to-withdraw-from-the-cares-which-will-not-withdraw/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Budapest in late May is a city of lilacs. The sweet, languid, rather sleepy smell of lilacs wafts everywhere. And it is a city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/budapest-in-late-may-is-a-city-of-lilacs-the-sweet-languid-rather/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [There are stories in everything. I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lampposts, and newspaper stands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/o-henry/there-are-stories-in-everything-i-ve-got-some-of-my-best-yarns-from/) [O. Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-henry/) > [I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lamp posts and newspaper stands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/o-henry/i-ve-got-some-of-my-best-yarns-from-park-benches-lamp-posts-and/) [O. Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-henry/) ## 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. 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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/) [Explore all 2,928 Haruki Murakami quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) ## More After hours quotes > [ I worked more intensively hour after hour when I was starting out \[writing\]. More laboriously. I'd say quantity is important as well as quality,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-davis/i-worked-more-intensively-hour-after-hour-when-i-was-starting-out/) [Lydia Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-davis/) > [There's a whole generation growing up thinking you shouldn't seek knowledge for its own sake, and that theatre and art and books are activities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/there-s-a-whole-generation-growing-up-thinking-you-shouldn-t-seek/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [You yourself create all your misery, hour after hour, day after day. You think the goal justifies the means, even the vile means. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-reich/you-yourself-create-all-your-misery-hour-after-hour-day-after-day-you/) [Wilhelm Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-reich/) > [Al Capone's my uncle. The old days were a lot different. The Latin Casino was the big time. When I got there I figured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-rickles/al-capone-s-my-uncle-the-old-days-were-a-lot-different-the-latin/) [Don Rickles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-rickles/) > [I talk to hundreds of companies a year and spend hour after hour in heady pow-wows with CEOs, financial analysts and my colleagues in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-lynch/i-talk-to-hundreds-of-companies-a-year-and-spend-hour-after-hour-in/) [Peter Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-lynch/) > [“Cultural wisdom says 'Don't quit your day job.' Yet I think these desires represent our psyche's stretch toward wholeness. 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They want to be above it all, above the mayhem of laughter and people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/we-re-all-carnies-though-some-people-are-in-denial-they-want-to-be/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [I wanted to lie hour after hour on a couch, pouring out the dark, secret places of my heart--do this feeling that over my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-exley/i-wanted-to-lie-hour-after-hour-on-a-couch-pouring-out-the-dark/) [Frederick Exley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-exley/) > [Why does reading freak people out so much? Sure, I could be pretty anti-social when we were on the road, but if I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-hornby/why-does-reading-freak-people-out-so-much-sure-i-could-be-pretty-anti/) [Nick Hornby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-hornby/) > [If you sit kids down, hour after hour, doing low-grade clerical work, don't be surprised if they start to fidget. Children are not, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-robinson/if-you-sit-kids-down-hour-after-hour-doing-low-grade-clerical-work/) [Ken Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-robinson/) > [I have a scholar's love of silence and solitude. To sit and pass hour after hour in idle chatter with a roomful of strangers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-clarke/i-have-a-scholar-s-love-of-silence-and-solitude-to-sit-and-pass-hour/) [Susanna Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-clarke/) > [The choreographic process is exhausting. It happens on one's feet after hours of work, and the energy required is roughly the equivalent of writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-de-mille/the-choreographic-process-is-exhausting-it-happens-on-one-s-feet/) [Agnes de Mille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-de-mille/) > [You get into theological education and you're busy marking papers and getting into administration in raising funds and doing all the things that are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-a-carson/you-get-into-theological-education-and-you-re-busy-marking-papers-and/) [D. A. Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-a-carson/) [Browse all 40 After hours quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/after-hours/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. 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