Quotes

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The world had been divided into two parts that sought to annihilate each other because they both desired the same thing, namely the liberation of the oppressed, the elimination of violence, and the establishment of permanent peace.

The Fairy Tales
It was all a lie, it all stank, stank of lies, it all gave the illusion of meaning and happiness and beauty, and all of it was just putrefaction that no one would admit to. Bitter was the taste of the world. Life was a torment.

Siddharta
The world, my friend Govinda, is not imperfect or confined at a point somewhere along a gradual pathway toward perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment.

Siddhartha
It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.

Siddhartha
Where I'm living is not a storybook world. It's the real world, full of gaps and inconsistencies and anticlimaxes.

1Q84
It seemed to me that this world has a serious shortage of both logic and kindness.

1Q84
Huge organizations and me don't get along. They're too inflexible, waste too much time, and have too many stupid people.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
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.

After Dark
Is not parody the eternal lot of man?

Life is Elsewhere
When a private talk over a bottle of wine is broadcast on the radio, what can it mean but that the world is turning into a concentration camp?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays