South of the Border, West of the Sun QUOTES

81 " There are some things in this world that can be done over, and some that can’t. And time passing is one thing that can’t be redone. Come this far, and you can’t go back. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

82 " Once she called to invite me to a concert of Liszt piano concertos. The soloist was a famous South American pianist. I cleared my schedule and went with her to the concert hall at Ueno Park. The performance was brilliant. The soloist's technique was outstanding, the music both delicate and deep, and the pianist's heated emotions were there for all to feel. Still, even with my eyes closed, the music didn't sweep me away. A thin curtain stood between myself and pianist, and no matter how much I might try, I couldn't get to the other side. When I told Shimamoto this after the concert, she agreed.
"But what was wrong with the performance?" she asked. "I thought it was wonderful."
"Don't you remember?" I said. "The record we used to listen to, at the end of the second movement there was this tiny scratch you could hear. Putchi! Putchi! Somehow, without that scratch, I can't get into the music!"
Shimamoto laughed. "I wouldn't exactly call that art appreciation."
"This has nothing to do with art. Let a bald vulture eat that up, for all I care. I don't care what anybody says; I like that scratch!"
"Maybe you're right," she admitted. "But what's this about a bald vulture? Regular vultures I know about--they eat corpses. But bald vultures?"
In the train on the way home, I explained the difference in great detail.The difference in where they are born, their call, their mating periods. "The bald vulture lives by devouring art. The regular vulture lives by devouring the corpses of unknown people. They're completely different."
"You're a strange one!" She laughed. And there in the train seat, ever so slightly, she moved her shoulder to touch mine. The one and only time in the past two months our bodies touched. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

83 " I don't know if I have the strength to care for Yukiko and the children, I thought. No more visions can help me, weaving special dreams just for me. As far as the eye can see, the void is simply that — a void. I've been in that void before and forced myself to adjust. And now, finally, I end up where I began and I'd better get used to it. No one will weave dreams for me — it is my turn to weave dreams for others. That's what I have to do. Such dreams may have no power, but if my own life is to have any meaning at all, that is what I have to do.

Probably. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

84 " لكنك لا تعرف مدى الفراغ الذي يشعر به المرء لعدم قدرته على إبداع أي شيء. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

85 " What confused and disappointed me, though, was that I could never discover within her something special that existed just for me. A list of her good qualities far outstripped a list of her faults, and certainly far outshone my own, yet there was something missing, something absolutely vital. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

86 " لم تكن الكلمات ولا الوعود ما نحنُ بحاجةٍ إليه، بل التراكم الثابت للوقائع الصغيرة "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

87 " Probably is a world you my find south of the border. But never, ever west of the sun. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

88 " هاجيمي, لا يمكنك أن تعرف شيئاً من الصور. إنها مجرد ظل. أنا الحقيقية بعيدة جداً, و هذا لا يظهر في صورة. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

89 " إنّنا نعتمد دومًا على واقع معيّن -لندعوه واقع متعاقب- و ذلك كي نثبت واقعية الأحداث. إلى أي مدى تبدو الحقائق التي ندركها مثل الواقع مثلًا كما هي، و إلى أي مدى هي حقائق لمجرد قولنا إنها كذلك، ذاك اختلاف يستحيل استنتاجه. لذا، كي يثبت الواقع على أنه واقع، نحتاج إلى واقع آخر يتناسب مع الأول. مع ذلك يتطلّب الواقع الآخر واقعًا مثاليًا ليكون أرضية له. و بذلك تتكون سلسلة غير متناهية في وعينا. الحفاظ على هذه السلسلة هو ما ينتج الإحساس بأننا في الواقع هنا، و أننا موجودون بالفعل. لكن يمكن أن يحدث شيئًا لهذه السلسلة فنصبح ضائعين. ماهو واقعي؟ هل الواقع موجود في هذا الجزء من السلسلة المكسورة؟ أم أنّه هناك في الجانب الآخر؟.
كان ما شعرت به آنذاك هو ذلك الإحساس المقطوع. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

90 " If you gathered together all the shades of blue in the world and picked the bluest, the epitome of blue, this was the color you would choose. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

91 " قلتُ: "ألا تذكرين؟ الأسطوانة التي اعتدنا سماعها، كان فيها - بنهاية الحركة الثانية - خدش بسيط نسمعه. بوشي! بوشي! هكذا. ودون هذا الخدش، لم أستطع التوافق مع الموسيقى!".
ضحكت شيماموتو. "ليس لي أن أسميه تقديرا فنيا".
"ليس له شأن بالفن. دعي نسرًا أقرع يلتهم الفن! فلن يضيرني في شيء. لا يعنيني ما يقوله أي فرد، فأنا يعجبني هذا الخدش!".
اعترفَت شيماموتو: "قد تكون على حق، لكن ما بال النسر الأقرع؟! أعرف النسور العادية، فهي تلتهم الجيف. لكن النسور القرع؟".
أثناء عودتنا للبيت بالقطار، وضحتُ لها الفرق بكثير من التفصيل: يتحدد الفرق من مكان مولدها، صياحها، فترات تزاوجها. "يعيش النسر الأقرع على التهام الفن. أما النسر العادي فيعيش على التهام جيف المجهولين. وهو اختلاف كلي".
ضحكَت. "أنت غريب". وهناك بمقعد القطار، بدرجة طفيفة جدا، حرَّكَت من كتفها لتلمسني. المرة الواحدة الوحيدة، طيلة الشهرين الماضيين، التي تلامس فيها جسمانا. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

92 " một con người có thể làm tổn thương một con người khác, duy nhất bởi vì anh ta tồn tại và là chính anh ta "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

93 " Our hands were clasped together for ten seconds at most, but to me it felt more like thirty minutes. When she let go of my hand, I was suddenly lost. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

94 " For a while is a phrase whose length can't be measured. At least by the person who's waiting. And probably is a word whose weight is incalculable. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

95 " قلتُ: "فكرتُ أنكِ لن تأتي هنا أبدا".
قالت وهي تضحك: "كلما أراك تقول الشيء ذاته"، وكالعادة، جلست جنبي، تريح يديها على البار. "لكني كتبتُ لكَ: قد لا يُقَدَّر لي المجيء هنا فترة، محتمل. هه؟"
قلتُ: "لكلمة (فترة) طول لا يمكن قياسه. على الأقل لمن ينتظر". "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

96 " Khi bắt đầu đi tìm những lời biện hộ, người ta sẽ giữ mãi cái thái độ đó suốt cả đời "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

97 " It wasn’t what I’d characterize as a happy part of my life, living as I was, a balled-up mass of unfulfilled desires. I was much younger, much hungrier, much more alone. But I was myself, pared down to the essentials. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

98 " A smile like a small wisp of smoke drifting quietly skyward on a windless day. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

99 " But that reality was like nothing I'd ever seen before: a reality that didn't seem to fit. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun

100 " College transported me to a new town, where I tried, one more time, to reinvent myself. Becoming someone new, I could correct the errors of my past. At first I was optimistic; I could pull it off. But in the end, no matter where I went, I could never change. Over and over I made the same mistake, hurt other people, and hurt myself in the bargain.
Just after I turned twenty, this thought hit me: Maybe I've lost the chance to ever be a decent human being. The mistakes I'd committed - maybe they were very makeup, an inescapable part of my being. I'd hit rock bottom, and I knew it. "

― Haruki Murakami , South of the Border, West of the Sun