Timothy Ma > Timothy's Quotes

“Why, this would make a man a man of salt,
To use his eyes for garden water-pots,
Ay, and laying autumn’s dust.”
― William Shakespeare

“You ever gentle gods, take my breath from me.
Let not my worser spirit tempt me again
To die before you please.”
― William Shakespeare, King Lear

“Vice is punished, but virtue is not rewarded”
― George Orwell, Inside the Whale and Other Essays

“Ultimately it is the Christian attitude which is self-interested and hedonistic, since the aim is always to get away from the painful struggle of earthly life and find eternal peace in some kind of Heaven or Nirvana. The humanist attitude is that the struggle must continue and that death is the price of life.”
― George Orwell, Inside the Whale and Other Essays

“All language is but a poor translation.”
― Franz Kafka

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
― Socrates

“Beside us lies a fair-headed recruit in utter terror. He has buried his face in his hands, his helmet has fallen off. I fish hold of it and try to put it back on his head. He looks up, pushes the helmet off and like a child creeps under my arm, his head close to my breast. The little shoulders heave. Shoulders just like Kemmerich's. I let him be.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. In learning to write, the pupil goes over with his pen what the teacher has outlined in pencil: so in reading; the greater part of the work of thought is already done for us. This is why it relieves us to take up a book after being occupied with our own thoughts. And in reading, the mind is, in fact, only the playground of another’s thoughts. So it comes about that if anyone spends almost the whole day in reading, and by way of relaxation devotes the intervals to some thoughtless pastime, he gradually loses the capacity for thinking; just as the man who always rides, at last forgets how to walk. This is the case with many learned persons: they have read themselves stupid.”
― arthur schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms

“I want that quiet rapture again. I want to feel the same powerful, nameless urge that I used to feel when I turned to my books. The breath of desire that then arose from the coloured backs of the books, shall fill me again, melt the heavy, dead lump of lead that lies somewhere in me and waken again the impatience of the future, the quick joy in the world of thought, it shall bring back again the lost eagerness of my youth. I sit and wait.”
― Remarque, Erich Maria Remarque, Erich Maria, All Quiet on the Western Front

“Ah! Mother, Mother! You still think I am a child - why can I not put my head in your lap and weep? Why have I always to be strong and self-controlled? I would like to weep and be comforted too, indeed I am little more than a child; in the wardrobe still hang short, boy's trouser - it is such a little time ago, why is it over?”
― Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

“All things pass. None of us can manage to hold on to anything. In that way, we live our lives.”
― Haruki Murakami, Wind/Pinball: Two Novels

“Whenever I look at the ocean, I always want to talk to people, but when I'm talking to people, I always want to look at the ocean.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“People with dark souls have nothing but dark dreams. People with really dark souls do nothing but dream.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“Whatever can't be expressed might as well not exist.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“It’s really difficult to talk about dead people, but it’s even harder to talk about dead young women. It’s because from the time they die, they’ll be young forever. On the other hand, for us, the survivors, every year, every month, every day, we get older.
Sometimes, I feel like I can feel myself aging from one hour to the next. It’s a terrible thing, but that’s reality.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“Telling lies is a really terrible thing. These days, lies and silence are the two greatest sins in human society you might say. In reality, we tell lots of lies, and we often break into silence. However, if we were constant;y talking year-round, and telling only the truth truth would probably lose some of its value.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“Compared to the complexity of the universe, this world of ours is like the brain of a worm.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“I'll just come right out and say it, rich people have no imagination. They can't even scratch their own asses without a ruler and a flashlight.”
― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

“The Rat spent many tranquil afternoons settled in his rattan chair. When he began to drift off, he could feel time pass through his body like gently flowing water. As he sat, hours, days, weeks went by.
Occasionally, ripples of emotion would lap against his heart as if to remind him of something. When that happened, he closed his eyes, clamped his heart shut, and waited for the emotions to recede. It was only a brief sensation, like the shadows that signal the coming of night. Once the ripple had passed, the quiet calm returned as if nothing untoward had ever taken place.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“Mutual understanding is of critical importance. There are those who say that ‘understanding’ is merely the sum total of our misunderstandings”
― Haruki Murakami, Ranocchio salva Tokyo

“So many dreams, so many disappointments, so many promises. And in the end, they all just vanish.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“If you look at things from a distance, most anything looks beautiful.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“From his shoulder on down, the Rat felt the supple weight of her body. An odd sensation, that weight. This being that could love a man, bear children, grow old, and die; to think one whole existence was in this weight.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“An old cat is a good friend to talk to.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“My face, my self, what would they mean to anybody? Just another stiff. So this self of mine passes some other's self on the street — what do we have to say to each other? Hey there! Hi ya!
That's about it. Nobody raises a hand. No one turns around to take another look.”
― Haruki Murakami, Pinball, 1973

“I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“Waiting for your
answer is one of the most painful things I have ever been through. At
least let me know whether or not I hurt you.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“Are you looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary between shit and syphilis”
― Thomas Harris, Hannibal Rising

“I really like you, Midori. A lot.”
“How much is a lot?”
“Like a spring bear,” I said.
“A spring bear?” Midori looked up again. “What’s that all about? A spring bear.”
“You’re walking through a field all by yourself one day in spring, and this sweet little bear cub with velvet fur and shiny little eyes comes walking along. And he says to you, “Hi, there, little lady. Want to tumble with me?’ So you and the bear cub spend the whole day in each other’s arms, tumbling down this clover-covered hill. Nice, huh?”
“Yeah. Really nice.”
“That’s how much I like you.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood