Kafka on the Shore (Vintage International)

There’s always going to be a connection between you, Mr. Nakata, and the things you deal with. Just like there’s a connection between eel and rice bowls. And as the web of these connections spreads out, a relationship between you, Mr. Nakata, and capitalists and the proletariat naturally develops.”

“Symbols are important,” the tall one adds. “We happen to have these rifles and soldiers’ uniforms, so we play the part of sentries. That’s our role. Symbols guide us to the roles we play.”

People are mostly a product of where they were born and raised. How you think and feel’s always linked to the lay of the land, the temperature. The prevailing winds, even.

Boundaries between things are disappearing all the time. Maybe that’s why you can’t speak to cats anymore.”

things in the past are like a plate that’s shattered to pieces. You can never put it back together like it was, right?”

“Having an object that symbolizes freedom might make a person happier than actually getting the freedom it represents.”

Until Edison invented the electric light, most of the world was totally covered in darkness. The physical darkness outside and the inner darkness of the soul were mixed together, with no boundary separating the two.

“A revelation leaps over the borders of the everyday. A life without revelation is no life at all. What you need to do is move from reason that observes to reason that acts. That’s what’s critical.

reality’s just the accumulation of ominous prophecies come to life.