Kafka on the Shore (Vintage International)

The people who build high, strong fences are the ones who survive the best. You deny that reality only at the risk of being driven into the wilderness yourself.”

“Having an object that symbolizes freedom might make a person happier than actually getting the freedom it represents.”

“Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who’s in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It’s like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s just a natural feeling. You’re not the person who discovered that feeling, so don’t go trying to pate

“The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.”

Every morning as I sat at my desk, I transformed, once again, into a fifteen-year-old boy. I could view the world through a fifteen-year-old’s eyes, feel the wind graze my fifteen-year-old’s skin. It was a completely real experience. You know, I thought, being a novelist isn’t such a bad thing. Focus your mind enough and you can be anyone you like.

There’s always going to be a connection between you, Mr. Nakata, and the things you deal with. Just like there’s a connection between eel and rice bowls. And as the web of these connections spreads out, a relationship between you, Mr. Nakata, and capitalists and the proletariat naturally develops.”

“Symbols are important,” the tall one adds. “We happen to have these rifles and soldiers’ uniforms, so we play the part of sentries. That’s our role. Symbols guide us to the roles we play.”

People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.

Boundaries between things are disappearing all the time. Maybe that’s why you can’t speak to cats anymore.”