Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that's how we've got to live.
Haruki Murakami

I am 55 years old now. It takes three years to write one book. I don't know how many books I will be able to write before I die. It is like a countdown. So with each book I am praying - please let me live until I am finished.
Haruki Murakami

I didn't want to be a writer, but I became one. And now I have many readers, in many countries. I think that's a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I'm proud of it and I enjoy it, and it is strange to say it this way, but I respect it.
Haruki Murakami

I lost some of my friends because I got so famous, people who just assumed that I would be different now. I felt like everyone hated me. That is the most unhappy time of my life.
Haruki Murakami

In Japan they prefer the realistic style. They like answers and conclusions, but my stories have none. I want to leave them wide open to every possibility. I think my readers understand that openness.
Haruki Murakami

It is hard to be an individual in Japan.
Haruki Murakami

Most young people were getting jobs in big companies, becoming company men. I wanted to be individual.
Haruki Murakami

There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.
Haruki Murakami

When I write about a 15-year old, I jump, I return to the days when I was that age. It's like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.
Haruki Murakami

You are 27 or 28 right? It is very tough to live at that age. When nothing is sure. I have sympathy with you.
Haruki Murakami