You are 27 or 28 right? It is very tough to live at that age. When nothing is sure. I have sympathy with you.
I don't know -- maybe the world has two different kinds of people, and for one kind the world is this completely logical, rice pudding place, and for the other it's all hit-or-miss macaroni gratin.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that people perceive the world in fundamentally different ways, with some seeing it as orderly and predictable, while others view it as chaotic and uncertain.
Haruki Murakami's quote reflects on the idea that individuals interpret their experiences and the world around them through different lenses. Some people find comfort and predictability in a structured environment, likened to a logical place where everything makes sense, while others thrive in a more spontaneous and unpredictable setting, characterized by randomness and surprise. This duality highlights the diversity of human thought and perception, suggesting that our distinct perspectives shape how we navigate life.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a friend's discussion about life choices based on their personalities.
More from Haruki Murakami
All quotes →They take the circuits out of people’s brains that make it possible for them to think for themselves. Their world is like the one that George Orwell depicted in his novel. I’m sure you realize that there are plenty of people who are looking for exactly that kind of brain death. It makes life a lot easier. You don’t have to think about difficult things, just shut up and do what your superiors tell you to do.
Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.
I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.
Everybody burns out in this world; amateur, pro, it doesn't matter, they all burn out, they all get hurt, the OK guys and the not-OK guys both. That's why everybody takes out a little insurance. I've got some too, here at the bottom of the heap. That way, you manage to survive if you burn out. If you're all by yourself and don't belong anywhere, you go down once, and you're out. Finished.
Life is so uncertain: you never know what could happen. One way to deal with that is to keep your pajamas washed.
Similar quotes
The history of thought, of knowledge, of philosophy, of literature seems to be seeking, and discovering, more and more discontinuities, whereas history itself appears to be abandoning the irruption of events in favor of stable structures.
My grandfather was dying, and told the family he had decided to die. ... At that moment I wanted so badly to write and tell him that he was never going to die, that somehow he would always be present in my life, because he had a theory that death didn't exist, only forgetfulness did. He believed that if you can keep people in your memory, they will live forever. That's what he did with my grandmother.
Throw a stone into the stream and the ripples that propagate themselves are the beautiful type of all influence.
An earthly kingdom cannot exist without inequality of persons. Some must be free, some serfs, some rulers, some subjects.
I think... the history of civilization is an attempt to codify, classify and categorize aspects of human nature that hardly lend themselves to that process.
The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.