Haruki Murakami 村上 春樹 (January 12th, 1949) is a Japanese international best-selling author who has sold millions of copies. He’s received many awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.

He published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing in 1979 after working as the owner of a small jazz bar. Before that he hadn’t written anything. He published Norwegian Wood in 1987, a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. It sold millions of copies and he became so famous he had to leave Japan temporarily. 

Below we list some words of wisdom by Haruki Murakami.

“Sometimes it’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off.”

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” 

“Say it before you run out of time. Say it before it’s too late. Say what you’re feeling. Waiting is a mistake.” 

“Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy.” 

“Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting.” 

“But if you knew you might not be able to see it again tomorrow, everything would suddenly become special and precious, wouldn’t it?” 

“Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams.” 

“Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off.”

“Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language.” 

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” 

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.” 

“If you want to talk about something new, you have to make up a new kind of language.” 

“As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around.” 

“The best way to think about reality, I had decided, was to get as far away from it as possible.” 

“Life is a lot more fragile than we think. So you should treat others in a way that leaves no regrets. Fairly, and if possible, sincerely.” 

“As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself.” 

“Deep rivers run quiet.” 

“Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves.” 

“If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets.” 

“You have to wait until tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring.” 

“One heart is not connected to another through harmony alone. They are, instead, linked deeply through their wounds” 

“Even if we could turn back, we’d probably never end up where we started.” 

“This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don’t get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can’t do anything, don’t get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it’s ready to come undone. You have to realize it’s going to be a long process and that you’ll work on things slowly, one at a time.” 

“I don’t know, there’s something about you. Say there’s an hourglass: the sand’s about to run out. Someone like you can always be counted on to turn the thing over.” 

“Here, too, a brand-new day is beginning. It could be a day like all the others, or it could be a day remarkable enough in many ways to remain in the memory. In either case, for now, for most people, it is a blank sheet of paper.”

“To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm.” 

“There are lots of things we never understand, no matter how many years we put on, no matter how much experience we accumulate.” 

“Please remember: things are not what they seem.” 

“One foot in front of the other. Repeat as often as necessary to finish.” 

“Never let the darkness or negativity outside affect your inner self. Just wait until morning comes and the bright light will drown out the darkness.” 

“I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.” 

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” 

“There are many things we only see clearly in retrospect.” 

“There is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for.”


“Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that’s how we’ve got to live.”

“In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.” 

“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.” 


“If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.” 

“As we go through life we gradually discover who we are, but the more we discover, the more we lose ourselves.” 

“If you think of someone enough, you’re sure to meet them again.”

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.” 

“It’s easy to forget things you don’t need anymore.” 

“Find me now. Before someone else does.”

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.” 


Our FREE Spiritual Detox Script can help you get rid of toxic energy and help you make the most of your life. http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/script/ 

Learn more about spiritual myths, meditation and how to use it to your advantage, and much more with our Direct Your Destiny e-Package: http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/directyourdestiny/ 

Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo