69 Quotes

“This was a factory, a sorting house. We were no different from dogs and pigs and cows: all of us were allowed to play when we were small, but then, just before reaching maturity, we were sorted and classified. Being a high school student was the first step toward becoming a domestic animal.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69

“Anyone who’s had a visit from them has discovered
an important fact about life: namely, that misery grows up all by itself, in a
hidden place, without your even being aware of it, and then one day, suddenly, it
knocks on your door. Happiness is just the opposite. Happiness is a cute little
flower on your veranda, or a baby canary. You can see it growing, little by little,
right before your eyes.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69 (Intrinsics in Tina)-Sixty nine (Young Jump Comics) (2004) ISBN: 4088766539 [Japanese Import]

“Adama was loyal—not to me, mind you. He was a believer, but it wasn’t me he believed in. He believed in something that was part of the very air we breathed in the late sixties, and he was loyal to that something. It wouldn’t be easy to explain what that something was. Whatever it was, though, it made us free. It saved us from being bound to a single set of values.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69 (Intrinsics in Tina)-Sixty nine (Young Jump Comics) (2004) ISBN: 4088766539 [Japanese Import]

“It was around this time that I’d begun trying to perfect the art of fucking with people’s minds. I’d figured out that when someone else was hogging the limelight, you could cut him down to size by bringing up a subject he didn’t know anything about. If the other person knew a lot about literature, I’d talk about the Velvet Underground; if he knew a lot about rock, I’d talk about Messiaen; if he knew a lot about classical music, I’d talk about Roy Lichtenstein; if he knew a lot about pop art, I’d talk about Jean Genet; and so on. Do that in a small provincial city and you never lose an argument.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69

“If everyone could feel as I felt at that moment, dressed in my preppy sweater and McGregor coat and about to set out on a little journey with my Bambi-eyed girlfriend on Christmas Eve, all conflicts in the world would vanish. Mellow smiles would rule the earth.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69

“We sat side by side on the swings. The creaking sound they made seemed sexier to me than a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69

“You might be a chicken or a human being, but show a little rebelliousness and the next thing you knew you were all on your own.”
― Ryū Murakami, 69