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141 " From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give up; I wanted to give up on living. There was no denying that tomorrow would come, and the day after tomorrow, and so next week, too. I never thought it would be this hard, but I would go on living in the midst of a glomy depression, and that made me feel sick to the depths of my soul. In spite of the tempest raging within me, I walked the night path calmly. "
― Banana Yoshimoto , Kitchen
142 " Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life. "
143 " It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness. "
― Banana Yoshimoto , The Lake
144 " Each one of us continues to carry the heart of each self we've ever been, at every stage along the way, and a chaos of everything good and rotten. And we have to carry this weight all alone, through each day that we live. We try to be as nice as we can to the people we love, but we alone support the weight of ourselves. "
― Banana Yoshimoto , Goodbye Tsugumi
145 " Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed. "
146 " Every time I look into his eyes I just want to take the ice cream or whatever I've got in my hand and rub it into his face. That's how much I like him. "
147 " Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends. "
148 " This world of ours is piled high with farewells and goodbyes of so many different kinds, like the evening sky renewing itself again and again from one instant to the next-and I didn’t want to forget a single one. "
149 " People who are going to get along really well know it almost as soon as they meet. You spend a little while talking and everyone starts to feel this conviction, you're all equally sure that you're at the beginning of something good. That's how it is when you meet people you're going to be with for a long time. "
150 " Over and over, we begin again. "
151 " Life is a performance, I thought. Perthaps the word "illusion" would have meant more or less the same thing, but to me "performance" seemed closed to the truth. Standing there in the midst of the crowd that evening, I felt this realization swirl dizzily through my body in a dazzling splendor of light, if only for an instant. Each one of us continues to carry the heart of each self we've ever been, at every stage along the way, and a chaos of everything good and rotten. And we have to carry this weight all alone, through each day that we live. We try to be as nice as we can to the people we love, but we alone support the weight of ourselves. "
152 " In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions much of one's life history is etched in the senses. "
153 " I was happy. I loved the night, I loved t so much it almost hurt. In the night everything seemed possible. I wasn't sleepy at all. "
― Banana Yoshimoto , Asleep
154 " Ultimately, though, it's living people that frighten me the most. It's always seemed to me that nothing could be scarier than a person, because as dreadful places can be, they're still just places; and no matter how awful ghosts might seem, they're just dead people. I always thought that the most terrifying things anyone could ever think up were the things living people came up with. "
― Banana Yoshimoto , Hardboiled & Hard Luck
155 " Hitoshi:I'll never be able to be here again. As the minutes slide by, I move on. The flow of time is something I cannot stop. I haven't a choice. I go. One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I've yet to meet, others I'll never see again. People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes. I earnestly pray that a trace of my girl-child self will always be with you.For waving good-bye, I thank you. "
156 " Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic. "
157 " Fate is a ladder on which you cannot afford to miss a single rung. To skip out on even one step would mean you'll never make it to the top. "
158 " It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world. "
159 " Nothing exists in this world but me and my bed…” (p. 141). "
160 " Why is it that everything I eat when I’m with you is so delicious?’ I laughed. ‘Could it be that you’re satisfying hunger and lust at the same time? "