Haruki Murakami citáty

strana 21

36 hlubokých a podnětných slov o lásce, osamělosti a lidských emocích

„Smrt není opakem života, smrt je jeho součást.“

„Je dost tenká, zeď mezi zdravým sebevědomím a nezdravou pýchou.“

„Nejsem na tebe naštvaný. Jsem jen smutný. Ty jsi zavřená v tvém malém světě a když se snažím zaťukat na dveře, na sekundu se podíváš ven, ale pak se zase vrátíš zpátky.“

„Bolest je nevyhnutelná, utrpení je volba.“

„Všichni ustavičně ztrácíme něco důležitého… Důležité šance a možnosti, city, které se nedají ničím nahradit. To už je jeden ze smyslů lidské existence. Ale někde ve svých hlavách, aspoň já myslím, že v hlavách, máme každý takový malý pokojík, kam ukládáme vzpomínky na všecky ty ztracené věci. Takovou nějakou místnost s regály, jako máme tady v knihovně. A v jednom kuse vyplňujeme katalogizační lístky, abychom se ve své vlastní mysli ještě vůbec vyznali. Musíme v té místnosti zametat, větrat, vyměňovat květinám vodu. Jinými slovy: žiješ pak na věky ve své osobní knihovně.“

„Věci kolem tebe jsou jen obrazem toho, co máš v sobě. A co máš v sobě, je jen obrazem toho, co je kolem tebe. Kdykoliv se proto vydáš do labyrintu okolního světa, vydáváš se na cestu sám sebou. A to je mnohdy setsakra nebezpečná cesta.“

„Ve tmě je většinou všechno vidět spíš líp. Zůstat v ní ale příliš dlouho znamená ztížit si návrat do světa ve světle na povrchu zemském. V určitou chvíli je třeba přestat.“

„Většina lidí, co jich svět nosí, totiž nevěří tomu, co je pravda, ale tomu, co chce, aby pravda byla. Takoví lidí mohou klidně mít oči otevřené dokořán, nevidí ale stejně vůbec nic.“

„Svět, jak ho vidím, mi totiž připadá jako složený z velké řady, málem z nekonečného množství nejrůznějších možností, a už proto je aspoň do jisté míry na jednotlivých lidech, aby ho spoluvytvářeli tím, že z těch možností nějaké vyberou.“

„Omezenost bez fantazie,
nedostatek tolerance,
teorie, která se vymkla kontrole,
prázdná rétorika,
patenty na pravdu a zkostnatělý systém.
Toho jediného se na světe opravdu bojím.“

„V krabici se sušenkama je spousta druhů sušenek a ty máš některý z nich rád a některý ne. A když sníš nejdřív ty, co ti chutnaj, zbydou ti nakonec jen ty nedobrý. Myslím, že těm nedobrejm se nedá vyhnout, takže když skousneš nejdřív je, zůstanou ti pak už jen ty lepší. A život je něco jako taková veliká krabice sušenek.“

„V našich životech se najde leccos, co je až příliš komplikované na vysvětlení, i kdyby to mělo být jakým chce jazykem.“

„Vzpomínky Vám zahřejí tělo zevnitř, ale současně Vás také nemilosrdně rozpoltí.“

„Když jsi jiný než ostatní, nikdo se s tebou nebaví.“

„Samotu nemá nikdo rád. Člověk se ale náramně snadno zklame.“

„Štěstí je pouhá alegorie, neštěstí je příběh“

„Ani ty nejmenší maličkosti se ti nestanou náhodou.“

„Převážná většina lidí o pravdu, která se dá dokázat, vůbec nestojí. Pravda se skoro nikdy neobejde bez silné bolesti. A na nějakou pravdu, která bolí, se ti každý leda vykašle. Lidé potřebují něco jiného: krásné a líbivé příběhy, po kterých jim jejich vlastní existence bude připadat alespoň o trochu smysluplnější. Přesně pro tohle vznikají náboženství.“

„U šikany je hlavní cíl, aby ji ten, komu se děje, naplno zaregistroval. Šikana, které si oběť nevšimne, to je prostě nemožnost.“

„Ze správných pohnutek nemusí ale vždycky nutně vzejít správné výsledky…. Násilí nemusí mít vždy viditelnou podobu a rány nemusí být vždy jen krvavé“

„Kritizovat chyby cizích, neznámých lidí je snadné a příjemné.“

„Psaní je důležité. Ale konečný výsledek, hotová napsaná věc, ta už žádný smysl nemá.“

„Jenomže omezenost, netolerance a nedostatek fantazie jsou jako cizopasní červi.“

„Svět zažil nacismus, atomovou bombu i moderní hudbu, a všechno to dokázal jakž takž přežít.“

„Smysl naší vlastní existence nám možná bude mnohem pochopitelnější, když začneme vnější povrch a vnitřní obsah věcí vnímat právě opačně, než jak je obvyklé - jinými slovy, když budeme přehlížet obal a vnímat především obsah.“

„Osud je jako písečná bouře, co bez ustání mění směr.“

„Čirá přítomnost je nezachytitelným postupem minulosti, pohlcující budoucnost. Veškeré vnímání je v pravdě již pamětí samotnou.“

„Byti nema smysl jen proto, ze jednou prijde konec.“

„..žádná pravda nemůže vyléčit bolest ze ztráty milovaného člověka. Žádná pravda, žádná upřímnost, žádná síla ani laskavost nemůže takovou bolest vyhojit. Můžeme ji přetrpět a něco si z ní odnést. Ale ani to nás nijak neochrání před dalším utrpením, jež může přijít.“

„Prostě si teď navzájem sdělujeme věci, které se nedají sdělit nijak jinak než dotykem našich dvou nedokonalých těl. Prostě tak sdílíme vlastní nedokonalost.“

„Jakmile bouře skončí, nebudete si pamatovat, jak jste ji zvládli, jak se vám podařilo přežít. Ve skutečnosti si nebudete jisti, zda bouře opravdu skončila. Ale jedna věc je jistá. Když bouři přečkáte, nebudete tou samou osobou, kterou postihla. To je to, o čem bouře je.“

„Dva lidé mohou spát v jedné posteli, a přesto být sami, když zavřou oči.“

“That's wrong," she declared. "Everyone must have one thing that they can excel at. It's just a matter of drawing it out, isn't it? But school doesn't know how to draw it out. It crushes the gift. It's no wonder most people never get to be what they want to be. They just get ground down.”

“But even so, every now and then I would feel a violent stab of loneliness. The very water I drink, the very air I breathe, would feel like long, sharp needles. The pages of a book in my hands would take on the threatening metallic gleam of razor blades. I could hear the roots of loneliness creeping through me when the world was hushed at 4 o'clock in the morning.”

“Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.”

““The Boss is an honorable man. After the Lord, the most godly person I've ever met." "You've met God?" "Certainly. I telephone Him every night.””

“Looking at things this way," she said, comparing the left and right side of the chronology, "we Japanese seem to live from war to war.”

“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, ninety-five percent of the information that reaches you has already been preselected and paid for.”

“I think I just don’t like names. Basically, I can’t see what’s wrong with calling me ‘me’ or you ‘you’ or us ‘us’ or them ‘them.”

“Once, when I was younger, I thought I could be someone else. I'd move to Casablanca, open a bar, and I'd meet Ingrid Bergman. Or more realistically - whether actually more realistic or not - I'd tune in on a better life, something more suited to my true self. Toward that end, I had to undergo training. I read The Greening of America, and I saw Easy Rider three times. But like a boat with a twisted rudder, I kept coming back to the same place. I wasn't anywhere. I was myself, waiting on the shore for me to return.”

“I stood there for a while, holding Nakata tight in my arms, feeling like I wanted to die or disappear. Just over the horizon the violence of war went on, with countless people dying. I no longer had any idea what was right and what was wrong. Was I really seeing the real world? Was the sound of birds I was hearing? I found myself alone in the woods, totally confused, blood flowing from freely from my womb. I was angry, afraid, embarrassed-all of these rolled into one. I cried quietly, without making a sound.”

“I always say—a prejudice on my part, I'm sure—you can tell a lot about a person's character from his choice of sofa. Sofas constitute a realm inviolate unto themselves. This, however, is something that only those who have grown up sitting on good sofas will appreciate. It's like growing up reading good books or listening to good music. One good sofa breeds another good sofa; one bad sofa breeds another bad sofa. That's how it goes. There are people who drive luxury cars, but have only second- or third-rate sofas in their homes. I put little trust in such people. An expensive automobile may well be worth its price, but it's only an expensive automobile. If you have the money, you can buy it, anyone can buy it. Procuring a good sofa, on the other hand, requires style and experience and philosophy. It takes money, yes, but you also need a vision of the superior sofa. That sofa among sofas.”

““What’s more, you’re loads better than you think you are.” “So why is it I get to thinking that way?” I puzzled. “That’s because you’re only half-living.” she said briskly. “The other half is still untapped somewhere.””

“You said that the mind is like the wind, but perhaps it is we who are like the wind. Knowing nothing, simply blowing through. Never aging, never dying”

“"You yourself created this Town. You made everything here. The Wall, the River, the Woods, the Library, the Gate, everything. Even this Pool. I've known all along."
"Then why did you not tell me sooner?"
"Because you'd only have left me here like this. Because your rightful world is there outside." My shadow sits down in the snow and shakes his head from side to side. "But you won't listen, will you?"
"I have responsibilities," I say. "I cannot forsake the people and places and things I have created. I know I do you a terrible wrong. And yes, perhaps I wrong myself, too. But I must see out the consequences of my own doings. This is my world. The Wall is here to hold me in, the River flows through me, the smoke is me burning. I must know why."”

“There are various reasons why an individual might habitually consume large quantities of alcohol, but they all effectively boil down to the same thing. Five years ago, my business partner was a happy drunk. Three years later, he had become a moody drunk. And by the last summer, he was fumbling at the knob of the door to alcoholism. As with most habitual drinkers, he was nice-enough, regular-if-not-exactly-sharp kind of guy. He thought so too. That's why he drank. Because it seemed that with alcohol in his syste, he could more fully embody this idea of being that kind of guy.”

“Speaking frankly and speaking the truth are two different things entirely. Honesty is to truth as prow is to stern. Honesty appears first and truth appears last.”

“There are symbolic dreams—dreams that symbolize some reality. Then there are symbolic realities—realities that symbolize a dream. Symbols are what you might call honorary town councilors of the worm universe. In the worm universe, there is nothing unusual about a dairy cow seeking a pair of pliers. A cow is bound to get her pliers sometimes. It has nothing to do with me. Yet the fact that the cow chose me to obtain her pliers changes everything.”

“I pay the entrance fee at the desk, no questions asked, and get a key to a locker. After changing into shorts and a T-shirt in he locker room, I do some stretching exercises. As my muscles relax so do I. I'm safe inside this container called me. With a little click, the outlines of this being - me - fit right inside and are locked nearly away. Just the way I like it. I'm where I belong.”

“I’ve read Rudin before, but that was fifteen years ago in university. Rereading it now, lying all bandaged up, sipping my whiskey in bed in the afternoon, I felt new sympathy for the protagonist Rudin. I almost never identify with anybody in Dostoyevsky, but the characters in Turgenev’s old-fashioned novels are such victims of circumstance, I jump right in. I have a thing about losers. Flaws in oneself open you up to others flaws. Not that Dostoyevsky’s characters don’t generate pathos, but they’re flawed in a way that don’t come across as faults.”

“After a simple dinner I go out on the porch and gaze up at the stars twinkling above, the random scattering of millions of stars. Even in a planetarium you wouldn't find this many. Some of them look really big and distinct, like if you reached your hand out intently you could touch them. The whole thing is breathtaking. Not just beautiful, though -the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive”

“I think what Kafka does is give a purely mechanical explanation of that complex machine in the story, as sort of a substitute for explaining the situation we're in. What I mean is … " I have to give it some more thought. "What I mean is, that's his own device for explaining the kind of lives we lead. Not by talking about our situation, but by talking about the details of the machine.”

“""likewesaid, we'lldowhatwecan. Trytoreconnectyou, towhatyouwant,"" said the Sheep Man. ""Butwecan'tdoit-alone. Yougottaworktoo.
Sittingsnotgonnadoit, thinking'snotgonnadoit."" ""So what do I have to do?"" ""Dance,"" said the Sheep Man. ""Yougottadance. Aslongasthemusicplays. Yougotta dance. Don'teventhinkwhy. Starttothink, yourfeetstop. Yourfeetstop, wegetstuck. Wegetstuck, you'restuck. Sodon'tpayanymind, nomatterhowdumb. Yougottakeepthestep. Yougottalimberup. Yougottaloosenwhatyoubolteddown. Yougottauseallyougot. Weknowyou're tired, tiredandscared. Happenstoeveryone, ok? Justdon'tletyourfeetstop.""”

“I stare at this ceaseless, rushing crowd and imagine a time a hundred years from now. In a hundred years everybody here - me included - will have disappeared from the face of the earth and turned into ashes or dust. A weird thought, but everything in front of me starts to seem unreal, like a gust of wind could blow it all away”

“If your confusion leads you in the right direction, the results can be uncommonly rewarding.”

“The world is mediocre. About that there is no mistake. Well then, has the world been mediocre since time immemorial? No. In the beginning, the world was chaos, and chaos is not mediocre. The mediocratization began when people separated the means of production from daily life.”

“Adults constantly raise the bar on smart children, precisely because they're able to handle it. The children get overwhelmed by the tasks in front of them and gradually lose the sort of openness and sense of accomplishment they innately have. When they're treated like that, children start to crawl inside a shell and keep everything inside. It takes a lot of time and effort to get them to open up again. Kid's hearts are malleable, but once they gel it's hard to get them back the way they were. Next to impossible, in most cases.”

“And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in their own separate orbits. From far off they look like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they're nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we'd be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing.”

“There's nothing worse than waking up in total darkness. It's like having to go back and live life all over from the beginning. When I first opened my eyes, iy esd sd ig I ertr living someone' else's life. After an extremely long time, this began to match up with my own life. A curious overslap this, my own life as some else's. It was improbabblr that such a person as myself could even be living.”

“You are not lost. It's just that your own thoughts are being kept from you, or hidden away. But the mind is strong. It survives even without thought. Even with everything taken away, it holds a seed-your self. You must believe in your powers.”

“When a war starts people are forced to become soldiers. They carry guns and go to the front lines and have to kill soldiers on the other side. As many as they possibly can. Nobody cares whether you like killing other people or not. It's just something you have to do. Otherwise you're the one who gets killed." Johnnie Walker pointed his index finger at Nakata's chest. "Bang!"”