Banana Yoshimoto Quotes

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Sometimes people put up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.

Banana Yoshimoto

Love, Inspirational, Life

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As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.

Banana Yoshimoto

Rocks, Feet, Suffering

Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (1979). “Three Plays”, p.42, Grove Press

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I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.

Banana Yoshimoto

People, Feelings, Love Feeling

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.55, Melville House

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When was it I realized that, on this truly dark and solitary path we all walk, the only way we can light is our own? Although I was raised with love, I was always lonely. Someday, without fail, everyone will disappear, scattered into the blackness of time.

Banana Yoshimoto

Lonely, Dark, Light

Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (1979). “Three Plays”, p.21, Grove Press

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The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free.

Banana Yoshimoto

Beautiful, Heart, Sky

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.81, Melville House

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It’s a marvelous thing, the ocean. For some reason when two people sit together looking out at it, they stop caring whether they talk or stay silent. You never get tired of watching it. And no matter how rough the waves get, you’re never bothered by the noise the water makes by the commotion of the surface - it never seems too loud, or too wild.

Banana Yoshimoto

Ocean, Tired, Caring

Banana Yoshimoto (2002). “Goodbye Tsugumi”, p.22, Grove Press

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What was important wasn't the fireworks, it was that we were together this evening, together in this place, looking up into the sky at the same time.

Banana Yoshimoto

Sky, Important, Together

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Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life.

Banana Yoshimoto

Memories, Shining, Happy Memories

Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (1979). “Three Plays”, p.100, Grove Press

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Love is the kind of thing that's already happening by the time you notice it, that's how it works, and no matter how old you get, that doesn't change. Except that you can break it up into two entirely distinct types -- love where there's an end in sight and love where there isn't.

Banana Yoshimoto

Love, Sight, Two

Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (2002). “Goodbye Tsugumi”, p.109, Grove Press

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No matter where you are, you're always a bit on your own, always an outsider.

Banana Yoshimoto

Travel, Inspire, Matter

Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (2002). “Goodbye Tsugumi”, p.51, Grove Press

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When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.

Banana Yoshimoto

Comfort

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.8, Melville House

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The night glittered brilliantly then.

Banana Yoshimoto

Night

Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (2001). “Asleep”, p.38, Grove Press

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But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.

Banana Yoshimoto

Guilt, Twisted, Uncertain

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.182, Melville House

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From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give up; I wanted to give up on living. There was no denying that tomorrow would come, and the day after tomorrow, and so next week, too. I never thought it would be this hard, but I would go on living in the midst of a glomy depression, and that made me feel sick to the depths of my soul. In spite of the tempest raging within me, I walked the night path calmly.

Banana Yoshimoto

Giving Up, Heart, Night

Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (1979). “Three Plays”, p.48, Grove Press

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Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic.

Banana Yoshimoto

People, Ignorant, Way

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.50, Melville House

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Over and over, we begin again.

Banana Yoshimoto

Bare Trees, Begin Again

Banana Yoshimoto (1993). “Kitchen”

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Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends.

Banana Yoshimoto

Heart, Light, People

Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus (1979). “Three Plays”, p.55, Grove Press

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Things look different depending on your perspective. As I see it, fighting to bridge those gaps isn't what really matters. The most important thing is to know them inside and out, as differences, and to understand why certain people are the way they are.

Banana Yoshimoto

Fighting, Differences, Bridges

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.127, Melville House

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That's the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those of us who stay up all night, it can feel as long as a lifetime. You get a lot done

Banana Yoshimoto

Good Night, Insomnia, Long

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Time expands and contracts. When it expands, it’s like pitch: it folds people in its arms and holds them forever in its embrace. It doesn’t let us go so easily. Sometimes you go back again to the place you’ve just come from, stop and close your eyes, and realize that not a second has passed, and time just leaves you there, stranded, in the darkness

Banana Yoshimoto

Eye, People, Forever

Banana Yoshimoto (2006). “Hardboiled: & Hard Luck”, p.24, Grove Press

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People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces. Defeat comes from within.

Banana Yoshimoto

People, Overcoming, Defeat

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The way we think may be completely different, but you and I are an ancient, archetypal couple, the original man and woman. We are the model for Adam and Eve. For all couples in love, there comes a moment when a man gazes at a woman with the very same kind of realization. It is an infinite helix, the dance of two souls resonating, like the twist of DNA, like the vast universe.

Banana Yoshimoto

Couple, Men, Thinking

Banana Yoshimoto, Ann Sherif (1996). “Lizard”, p.66, Simon and Schuster

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You have the nicest window, you know? None of the others can even compete. It´s not flashy like the others, or bleary – your window gives of this nice, quiet light.

Banana Yoshimoto

Nice, Light, Giving

Banana Yoshimoto (2011). “The Lake”, p.32, Melville House

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Each one of us continues to carry the heart of each self we've ever been, at every stage along the way, and a chaos of everything good and rotten. And we have to carry this weight all alone, through each day that we live. We try to be as nice as we can to the people we love, but we alone support the weight of ourselves.

Banana Yoshimoto

Nice, Heart, Self

Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (2002). “Goodbye Tsugumi”, p.39, Grove Press

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Ultimately, though, it's living people that frighten me the most. It's always seemed to me that nothing could be scarier than a person, because as dreadful places can be, they're still just places; and no matter how awful ghosts might seem, they're just dead people. I always thought that the most terrifying things anyone could ever think up were the things living people came up with.

Banana Yoshimoto

Thinking, People, Might

Banana Yoshimoto, Michael Emmerich (2006). “Hardboiled: & Hard Luck”, p.10, Grove Press

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Born: July 24, 1964
Occupation: Writer
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