NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2 Quotes

“Even raised in a peaceful, happy-go-lucky nation and with only a normal education, she'd learn—that at the end of the day, justice is no more than a setup to be overhauled by some new justice.
Everything is an opening act, to everything.
The revolutionary can't become a settler.”
― NisiOisiN, 偽物語 (下) [Nisemonogatari]

“Let me ask you something,” she continued. “This is a thought game what Kaiki used to jaw about─fancy you have the real thing, and a fake that is so identical, in every way, that you can’t distinguish it from the real thing. Which do you reckon has more value?” A natural and an artificial diamond. They were identical down to their atomic structure─but treated as distinct. Indistinguishable, yet treated as distinct. One was rejected─simply for being a fake. Omitted. “The real deal and─the fake.” “My reckoning on the matter was naturally that the real thing is more valuable. I think Oshino was of the opinion that they were of equal value. But according to the body what asked the question, we were both mistaken. According to Kaiki, the fake is far more valuable.” Kagenui went on without waiting for my reply. “Because it wills to become the real thing, the fake is more real than the real deal─kakak! He may be an incorrigible scoundrel, but what he says can be glorious. Well, if I have to, I reckon that’s the lesson I should take home from this. A lesson ten years in the making.”
― NisiOisiN, NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2: Fake Tale

“If the real deal represents an ideal and fakes represent attempts to realize that ideal, then perhaps it is actually better if the real deal didn't exist. Well, maybe that's going too far, but if the real deal is an ideal, then we can also wonder if it is an illusion. Of course, what people idolize as the real thing must have begun as the pursuit of an ideal, which is to say that it wasn't the real thing from the outset. If we roughly define the real deal's value as the impact it has on people, however, perhaps it is the real deal, after all, that gives rise to real deals. Given the above, rather than say that the two concepts of real and fake form a pair, it may be more accurate to say that they are just two sides of the same coin.”
― NisiOisiN, NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2: Fake Tale

“Just by living, everybody becomes somebody's enemy at some point.”
― NisiOisiN, NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2: Fake Tale

“While she opened her heart and let people in... That didn't mean her broken heart had been mended. Her wounds could heal in time. The scars, too, might fade, in time -- but that didn't erase that she'd borne them. Old wounds could still be fresh memories.”
― NisiOisiN, NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2: Fake Tale

“The tools change, but our behaviour doesn't. People are people. While griping that young folks don't read enough and are therefore ignorant, older generations can be clueless in turn about smartphones and the internet.”
― NisiOisiN, NISEMONOGATARI, Part 2: Fake Tale