“All kinds of things are happening to me. Some I chose, some I didn't. I don't know how to tell one from the other anymore. What I mean is, it feels like everything's been decided in advance—that I'm following a path somebody else has already mapped out for me. It doesn't matter how much I think thin…”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“Things change every day . . . With each new dawn it's not the same world as the day before. And you're not the same person you were either.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“No matter who or what you're dealing with, people build up meaning between themselves and the things around them . . . Being bright has nothing to do with it.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“People think they want the truth, of course — but that is simply not borne out by human experience, which is really just a series of hypocrisies.”— Brandy Jensen, thecut.com
“We must conquer life by living it to the full, and then we can go to meet death with a certain prestige.”— Aleister Crowley, amazon.com
“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one's energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die.”— Aleister Crowley, amazon.com
“In everybody's life, there's a point of no return. And in very few cases, a point where you can't go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That's how we survive.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“Self doubt is fear. Fear breeds failure . . . throw that self doubt in the garbage.”— Serena Williams, twitter.com
“They say life is about timing. I learned this lesson at age 18, when I chose to play a light tennis schedule because I wanted to go to fashion school. Some criticized my decision, but I knew I had two loves--tennis and fashion--and had to find a way to make them coexist.”— Serena Williams, twitter.com
“From my own experience, when someone is trying very hard to get something, they don't. And when they're running away from something as hard as they can, it usually catches up with them.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“The stars don't seem as intimidating as before, and I'm starting to feel closer to them. Each one gives out its own special light. I identify certain stars and watch how they twinkle in the night. Every once in a while they blaze more brightly for a moment.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“You have to look! . . . Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what's going on. In fact, things will be even worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in . . . Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward cl…”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“In everything there's a proper order. You can't look too far ahead. Do that and you'll lose sight of what you're doing and stumble. I'm not saying you should focus solely on details right in front of you, mind you. You've got to look ahead a bit or else you'll bump into something. You've got to foll…”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“You're afraid of imagination. And even more afraid of dreams. Afraid of the responsibility that begins in dreams . . . But you can't suppress dreams.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“But that calm won't last long, you know. It's like beasts that never tire, tracking you everywhere you go. They come out at you deep in the forest. They're tough, relentless, merciless, untiring, and they never give up.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“The concept of death was beyond his powers of imagination. And pain was something he wasn't aware of until he actually felt it.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“People soon get tired of things that aren't boring, but not of what is boring . . . For me, I might have the leisure to be bored, but not to grow tired of something. Most people can't distinguish between the two.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“But listening to the D major, I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of—that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect.”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com
“All he does is watch things happen and accept it all. I mean, occasionally he gives his own opinions, bu nothing very deep. Instead, he just broods over his love affair. He comes out of the mine about the same as when he went in. He has no sense that it was something he decided to do himself, or tha…”— Haruki Murakami, amazon.com