The Japanese Lover Quotes
"Since the age of fifteen she had drifted from one job, one town, to another."
"Founded in the mid-twentieth century to offer shelter with dignity to elderly persons of slender means..."
"Her shy smile softened the director’s heart."
"Lark House had no strict security measures. By day the main gates remained open..."
"Several of our guests fantasize about killing somebody, usually a family member."
"Early the next morning, Irina arrived at work in her best pair of jeans and a discreet T-shirt."
"This is how I would like to live, thought Irina, taking deep breaths of the sweet aroma of pines and laurels."
"The elderly are the most entertaining people in the world."
"The old folks in the home were conclusive proof that age, despite all its limitations, does not stop one from having fun and taking part in the hubbub of life."
"Alma stood out from the other women thanks not only to her aristocratic bearing but to the magnetic force field that seemed to separate her from the rest of humanity."
"Her reason for choosing it was that the garish color made it visible for other drivers, and its small size meant that if by some misfortune she ran someone over, she would most likely not kill them."
"During the Great Depression, Isaac Belasco not only had managed to avoid the worst effects of the crisis but had increased his fortune."
"Childhood is a naturally unhappy period of our existence. It was Walt Disney who invented the notion that it has to be happy, simply to make money."
"I have time to spare, and for the first time in my life nobody expects anything of me. I don’t have to prove anything, I’m not rushing everywhere; each day is a gift I enjoy to the fullest."
"Zen Buddhism and her lifelong habit of meditation gave her a great advantage in this situation, since she could bear being immobile in a way that would have driven any other person as athletic and energetic as her crazy."
"She discovered that she could practice medicine as a surgery consultant from a studio equipped with TV cameras hooked up with the operating room, but her ambition was to work with patients face-to-face, as she had always done."
"Cathy, as everyone called her, quickly became the mother who greeted the new arrivals, listened to their secrets, comforted those who were sad, guided the dying, and handed out the marijuana."
"There's a difference between being old and being ancient. It doesn’t have to do with age, but physical and mental health."
"However old one is, we need a goal in our lives. It's the best cure for many ills."
"Irina’s most urgent problem was an invasion of mice in the old Berkeley house where she rented a room."
"Once, one of the tiny animals survived in a trap and was rescued by Tim, who passed it on to Irina, tears in his eyes."
"Irina’s salary would barely have been enough for a normal person to live on, but her ambitions were so humble and her needs so modest that sometimes she could even save money."
"She learned to deflect the violent impulses that occasionally swept over them like fleeting storms and wasn’t frightened by the avarice or persecution complexes some of them suffered from out of loneliness."
"She imagined how she herself would be as an elderly and then ancient woman."
"Irina was also responsible for helping with the spiritual needs of the residents."
"Irina learned a lot from both the elderly and the ancient. Nearly all of them were sentimental, amusing, and had no fear of seeming ridiculous."
"Alma, who was pragmatic, agnostic, and fundamentally skeptical, wanted nothing to do with crystals, zodiacs, or talking trees."
"As soon as Isaac Belasco learned of the imminent evacuation, he went to see Takao to offer help and reassure him that his absence would be a short one because the evacuation was unconstitutional, violating the principles of American democracy."
"Megumi had received three marriage proposals in less than two years, and no one understood why she had rejected them, except for Ichimei, who was the intermediary between his sister and Boyd."
"Nothing healthy grows in a tin, they used to say."
"He was a polite, thoughtful boy, who could spend hours in one spot, staring at the purple mountains against the clear blue sky, lost in his own thoughts and emotions."
"Life without honor was worth little. Shikata ga nai."
"Every Monday Boyd began a letter to her, and went on adding paragraphs each day, drawn from The Art of Writing Love Letters."
"My brother is behind with his studies. He’s not good at reading or writing, or arithmetic," an embarrassed Megumi told her. "What are you good at then, Ichimei?" Miss Brody asked him directly. "Drawing and planting," whispered Ichimei, without raising his eyes from the tips of his shoes. "Perfect! That’s exactly what we need here!" Miss Brody exclaimed."
"I’m painting a path in the mountains of southern Japan, near a very ancient, isolated temple."
"For a start, we’ve never had to struggle with domestic problems like children, money, and all the other things couples have to deal with. We get together to make love."
"I live in constant pain, Irina, but if I don’t think about it, it’s bearable."
"If nothing hurts, that means I woke up dead."
"What happened is not something in the past; it could be said it’s still going on, and that there are lots of guilty men."
"We all have demons in the dark recesses of our soul, but if we bring them out into the light, they grow smaller and weaker, they fall silent and eventually leave us in peace."
"Life gets us dirty along the way, but we can clean it up. Happiness is not exuberant or noisy, like pleasure or joy; it’s silent, tranquil, and gentle; it’s a feeling of satisfaction inside that begins with self-love."
"You only have one life, but if you live it well, that’s enough. The only reality is now, today. What are you waiting for to be happy? Every day counts, I can tell you!"
"If you don’t, your rancor will destroy you. Almost all wounds heal with loving care, Irina. You have to love yourself and to love me. Agreed?"
"To live with uncertainty, with nothing sure or safe, with no plans or goals, letting myself be carried along like a bird on the wind: that is what I learned on my pilgrimage."
"I haven’t forgotten. But if I fail you, you can rely on Cathy."
"That friendship, discovered late in the day and savored like a fine wine, added color to a reality that was inexorably losing its brilliance for both of them."
"Looking back from this vantage point in her eighties, she had loved very few people, but she had loved them intensely, idealizing them with a fierce romanticism that resisted any assault from reality."
"For half a century she had been part of the closed little world of San Francisco’s upper class."
"She never sacrificed herself for another person or an ideal: self-denial was not one of her virtues."
"I am not into saving whales so I don’t have to mix with ecologists."
"The truth is that the older I get, the more I like my defects. Old age is the best moment to be and do whatever you enjoy."
"It was easy to feel compassion for unfortunate people she didn’t know. She didn’t like humans; she preferred cats."
"Passion is universal and eternal throughout the centuries, but circumstances and customs are constantly changing."
"The Germans are not a race of psychopaths, they’re normal people like you and me, but with fanaticism, power, and impunity, anyone can turn into a monster."
"Hearts are big enough to contain love for more than one person."