Enjoy These Great Quotes by Haruki Murakami from his Books and Writings!

About Harukie Murakami

Haruki Murakami is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. He was born in January 12, 1949 in Kyoto, Japan. His work has been described by the Virginia Quarterly Review as "easily accessible, yet profoundly complex." Critics suggest his work draws from film noir and contains elements of magical realism. His work has been influenced by Raymond Carver, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Chandler, Fyodor Dostoevsky and more...

Some of his popular quotes: 

 "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."

— from Norwegian Wood

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." 

— from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

"But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives."

—from Norwegian Wood 

"I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do." 

— from Sputnik Sweetheart

"Sometimes when I look at you, I feel I'm gazing at a distant star.
It's dazzling, but the light is from tens of thousands of years ago.
Maybe the star doesn't even exist any more. Yet sometimes that light seems more real to me than anything."

— from South Of The Border, West Of The Sun

"Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting." 

— Haruki Murakami

"I have this strange feeling that I'm not myself anymore. It's hard to put into words, but I guess it's like I was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me, and hurriedly put me back together again. That sort of feeling." 

— from Sputnik Sweetheart

 

"Don't you think it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go some place where you don't know a soul?"

— Haruki Murakami 

 
"Chance encounters are what keep us going."

— from Kafka on the Shore

"In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount."

— Haruki Murakami 

"Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe." 

— from Kafka on the Shore

"For both of us, it had simply been too enormous an experience. We shared it by not talking about it. Does this make any sense?" 

— from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

"I realize full well how hard it must be to go on living alone in a place from which someone has left you, but there is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for."

— from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

"I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it -- to be fed so much love I couldn't take any more. Just once. " 

— from Norwegian Wood

"Of course it hurt that we could never love each other in a physical way. We would have been far more happy if we had. But that was like the tides, the change of seasons--something immutable, an immovable destiny we could never alter. No matter how cleverly we might shelter it, our delicate friendship wasn't going to last forever. We were bound to reach a dead end. That was painfully clear."

— from Sputnik Sweetheart

"A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect."

— from Kafka on the Shore

"two people can sleep in the same bed and still be alone when they close their eyes"

— from Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

"These days I just can't seem to say what I mean [...]. I just can't. Every time I try to say something, it misses the point. Either that or I end up saying the opposite of what I mean. The more I try to get it right the more mixed up it gets. Sometimes I can't even remember what I was trying to say in the first place. It's like my body's split in two and one of me is chasing the other me around a big pillar. We're running circles around it. The other me has the right words, but I can never catch her."

— from Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

"If you're in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark"

— Haruki Murakami

"Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive."

— from Kafka on the Shore

"In the world we live in, what we know and what we don't know are like Siamese twins, inseparable, existing in a state of confusion."

—  from Sputnik Sweetheart

Citations:

Goodreads. Author Profile: Haruki Murakami. Web. 23 May 2011. <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3354.Haruki_Murakami>.

Goodreads. Quotes: Haruki Murakami. Web. 23 May 2011. <http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3354.Haruki_Murakami>.

Yellow Wood: Two roadss diverged in a Yellow wood, and I-. Image from Blog Article: Posted March 6, 2011 by eldred55. <http://eldred55.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/haruki-murakami/>.

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Business people and politicians report less emphasis on nature experiences in early childhood than do artists."

"Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are; it offers an environment where they can easily contemplate infinity and eternity. 

"As of this writing only seven states even require elementary schools to hire certified physical education instructors. This has occurred in a country where 40 percent of five-to-eight-year-olds suffer cardiac risk factors such as obesity"

"Now for some good news. Studies suggest that nature may be useful as a therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), used with or, when appropriate, even replacing medications or behavioral therapies."

"Some researchers now recommend that parents and educators make available more nature experiences - especially green places - to children with ADHD, and thereby support their attentional functioning and minimize their symptoms."

Nature Deficit Disorder: The Top 10 Reasons To Go Outside

That's me climbing a vine in Maui.

Good Article on How to Combat Nature-Deficit Disorder! It creates a good argument for everyone to Go Outside and Play!  Both Adults and Children Benefit From Outdoor Play! 

Most people I meet have Nature Deficit Disorder. That’s just a fancy way of saying they don’t get outdoors much, and are not in-tune with the natural world they live in. Frank Forencich refers to this as likened unto being aliens on our own planet. Erwan Le Corre calls it the zoo human syndrome. I’m sure various governing bodies call it the “epidemic of inactivity.” Call it whatever you want, the truth of the matter is that most people don’t get outside much. If you’re a regular reader here, then you know I’m always recommending that you get outdoors as much as possible. There are many good reasons for this, and it’s a little more than  just “good ‘ol advice.” 

I remember my mother telling me to go play outside when I was a kid. It was supposed to be good for me, but I didn’t understand that then, and I would have much rather played video games or watch TV. Mom was right though, and there’s a lot of wisdom contained in that simple phrase, “go play outside.”

Top 10 Reasons to go Outside

1) Get “away” from it all - Going outside gives you an opportunity to forget about the phone, TV, internet, and to-do lists. We tend to carry our hectic schedule wherever we go, and getting outdoors is one good way to relax and recharge our body and mind.

2) Get moving! – Going outdoors will inspire you to move. You can stretch your legs, or use them over a variety of terrain. This creates a greater development of coordination and the muscles which stabilize the body. Soft and smooth surfaces adorn almost every floor of civilized society, so much so that we’ve literally lost touch with the natural environment around us. Try going barefoot, and you’ll see what I mean about being insensitive to your natural surroundings.

The world is always in movement.   – V. S. Naipaul

3) Get some sunshine that is packed full of vitamin D – Getting enough vitamin D is super-important for maintaining a healthy immune system. This vitamin has been proven to help prevent osteoporosis, cancer, and Alzheimer disease. It also may help in the prevention of Diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease. You know just as well as I do that supplements don’t really cut it, go for the natural source in the sun.

4) Get an opportunity to take chances, and develop independence – Going outdoors is a little more risky than staying in the safety of the confined indoors. This is an opportunity to try new things, to develop new skills, and test yourself in unique ways such as climbing a tree.

5) It’s good for your eyes – In our mostly seated culture, we tend to focus our eyes directly in front of us when looking at a computer screen or paperwork. There is no overstimulating TV or computer to stare at when you step out into mother nature. Your pupils contract, similar to muscles, when looking at various distances. Simply by walking around outdoors, your eyes have a chance to both focus on the ground in front of you and the landscape around you, which is great exercise for TV and monitor over-stimulated eyes.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.    -Henry David Thoreau

6) Get in better touch with nature – There is so much to be experienced out in nature, it’s almost silly to try to classify it in a blogpost. Listen to birds, smell the trees, feel the wind and the heat of the sun. Watch an animal going about its daily routine. Enough said.

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.       – Helen Keller

7) Get some fresh air – Depending on where you live, going outside involves breathing fresh air. There are no toxic chemicals in the great outdoors – no cleaners, detergents, plastics, building materials to touch or breathe in.

Fresh air makes me throw up. I can’t handle it. I’d rather be around three Denobili cigars blowing in my face all night.    -Frank Sinatra

8) Better mental clarity, longer attention span – Researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides and Stephen Kaplan found memory performance and attention spans improved by 20 percent after people spent an hour interacting with nature. They also believe the findings could have broader impact on helping people who may be suffering from mental fatigue. ya think? (study here)

9) Boost energy levels – Going outdoors has unseen therapeutic effects that actually increase your energy levels, and no one can argue with that!

When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important resources that a garden makes available for use, is the gardener’s own body. A garden gives the body the dignity of working in its own support. It is a way of rejoining the human race.    -Wendell Berry

10) A new, tangible community – When you step outside your doors, you have a chance to enter a whole new environment – not just physically, but relationally too.  By visiting a park, climbing a mountain, or sailing a lake you can make new connections with people that would have never been possible. You will learn more about someone from one hour of playing outside than you will in a year of working with them.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.     – Anne Frank (one of my favorite authors)

 

The Bottom Line

It’s funny how we know something is right, even good for us, and yet we still need reminders constantly.  Do we really need a top 10 list of reasons why going outside is good for us? I mean, come on – we all know that going outdoors is good medicine, just like we know that getting regular exercise is good for us. I think the problem we are facing is not a lack of useful information, but a lack of compliance and sustainability. Most people either don’t enjoy going outdoors, or they reserve it only for special, infrequent occasions.

That’s the root of the problem right there.

Many health and fitness programs recommend spending time outdoors, listing a selection of benefits similar to the ones above. Sometimes, these programs produce good short-term results, but mostly they teach people to focus on the wrong thing: the benefits (or the consequences of NOT following the program).

I’d like to offer you a different approach to health and fitness. I want you to seek after experiences that are rewarding in and of themselves, activities that you will do for their own sake. Going outside is fun, even liberating for some people. It can change your entire perspective if you’ll allow it.

Even though setting specific goals is an essential part of training, long-term lifestyle transformation  can only be sustained when you’re enjoying the process itself. So, I want you to try things that you just love to do outside. Play games or sports, make it a priority to have fun, and dare something worthy. Health benefits and consequences are distractions that take us away from the task at hand. Instead, focus on the journey, that is your new lifestyle.

If you don’t know where to start, just try taking your current fitness program outdoors. I hike, climb, swim, swing clubbells, practice Prasara Yoga, and explore bodyweight exercise outside almost year round.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional

Article from Physical Living and address the problem of Nature-Deficit Disorder. Article can be found at: http://physicalliving.com/nature-deficit-disorder-the-top-10-reasons-to-go-outside/ 

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

After many years of research, Edith Cobb published her influential book, "The Ecology of Imagination in Childhood".  She based much of her analysis on a collection of some three hundred volumes of autobiographical recollections of childhood by creative thinkers from diverse cultures and eras. She concluded that inventiveness and imagination of nearly all of the creative people she studied was rooted in early experiences in nature. 

Cobb wrote, "Creative thinkers return in memory to renew the power and impulse to create at its very source, a source which they describe as the experience of emerging  not only into the light of consciousness, but into a living sense of kinship with the outer world.  These experiences take place primarily in the middle years of childhood. Memories of awakening to the existence of some potential, aroused by early experiences of self and world, are scattered through the literature of scientific and aesthetic invention. Autobiographies repeatedly refer to the cause of this awakening as an acute sensory response to the natural world."

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"One might argue that a computer, with its near-infinite coding possibilities, is histories deepest box of loose parts. But binary code, made of two parts --X and O-- have its limits. Nature, which excites all the senses, remains the riches source of loose parts."

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

"Children live through their senses. Sensory experiences link the child's exterior world with their interior, hidden, affective world. Since the natural world is the principle source of sensory stimulation, freedom to explore and play with the outdoor environment through the senses in their own space and time is essential for healthy development of an interior life. . . . This type of self-activated, autonomous interaction is what we call free play. Individual children test themselves by interacting with their environment, activating their potential and reconstructing human culture. The content of the environment is a critical factor in this process. A rich, open environment will continuously present alternative choices for creative engagement. A rigid, bland environment will limit healthy growth and development of the individual or group."  

- Robin Moore

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

The Rise of Cultural Autism

In the most nature-deprived corners of the world we can see the rise of what might be called cultural autism. The symptoms? Tunneled senses, and feeling of isolation and containment. Experience, including physical risk, is narrowing to about the size of a cathode ray, tube or flat panel if you prefer. Atrophy of the senses was occurring long before we came to be bombarded with the latest generation of computers, high-definition TV and wireless phones.

A FaceBook Note from Susan Welsh: CELEBRATE LIFE!!!

It seems the grass is greener on the other side to some of us. While others, think that they are the only ones with intelligence, wisdom, or good looks. But what would it be like, if we could truly walk in other people's shoes. I remember when I was younger, it was a big thing to take a slender, attractive woman and put her in a "fat-suit."  After there was no visible resemblance; they followed her with a camera down the street. The first thing she noticed was not attracting the attention she was used to getting paid. So she would try to engage the people by approaching them. This lead to being ignored or openly ridiculed.

By the end of the day, her eyes were downcast and she was unapproachable; praying to take off the suit, and get back to normal. If life was that easy?  You can't change:the color of your skin, your birth place, or erase past experiences from your life. You can't even control others differences of opinion, how they view you, or even if they accept you. They only control you have is your thoughts. You should never be ashamed of your past, for it brought you to the here and now. Nor should you change yourself to be accepted by others.

The best way to end discrimination is to put on that "proverbial fat-suit", and forget the judgment mode. Once you put yourself in someone else's situation, understanding and acceptance evolve. We all have obstacles to face, day in and day out. We all feel outside the box, at times. We need to spread love and peace in the World. We need to shine our light while identifying with the oneness, and celebrating the uniqueness that is within each of us!

Citation: Welsh, Susan. Celebrate Life!!! Face Book Post. January 14, 2011. <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Susan-Welsh/140118259355754#!/notes/susan-welsh/celebrate-life/143504692373466>

Each Child Is Unique: Picasso's Message To Parents

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.” —Pablo Picasso

 Citation: ThinkExist.com. Pablo Picasso Quotes. January 14, 2011. <http://thinkexist.com/quotation/each_second_we_live_is_a_new_and_unique_moment_of/339726.html>.