Kitchen Quotes

“<< Lei vive solo di impulsi irresistibili. La cosa incredibile è che ha la forza di realizzarli >>”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions, much of one's life history is etched in the senses. And things of no particular importance, or irreplaceable things, can suddenly resurface in a café one winter night.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Inching one's way along a steep cliff in the dark: on reaching the highway, one breathes a sigh of relief. Just when one can't take any more, one sees the moonlight. Beauty that seems to infuse itself onto the heart: I know about that.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“The pretty scene was brimming with life, but my soul was pining for the desolate streets of winter and for that river at dawn. I wished my heart would break and get it over with.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Why is it we have so little choice? We live like the lowliest worms. Always defeated--defeated we make dinner, we eat, we sleep. Everyone we love is dying. Still, to cease living is unacceptable.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Funny, but what made me feel most nostalgic was the yellow-green color of the floor, . . . When I lived there I had hated that color, but now that I was to leave it I loved it with all my heart.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“The place I like best in the world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s fine with me...Now only the kitchen and I are left. It is just a little nicer than being alone. When I’m dead worn out, in a reverie, I often think that when it comes time to die, I want to breathe my last breath in a kitchen. Whether it’s cold and I’m all alone, or somebody’s there and it’s warm, I’ll stare death fearlessly in the eye. If it’s a kitchen, I’ll think, ‘How good.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“I grandi personaggi nel loro semplice esistere emettono luce e rischiarano lo spirito di chi sta loro accanto. Così, quando si spengono inevitabilmente scende un'ombra pesante”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Avevo provato ad affidarmi completamente alla sorte, buona o cattiva che fosse. Mi sembrava che tutto sarebbe stato più facile. Ma quando capii che nemmeno questo serviva a rendere la vita più sopportabile diventai anch'io un'adulta come tutti gli altri, capace di conciliare le cose più atroci con la vita di tutti i giorni. Era solo così che vivere diventava più facile.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Felicità è anche non accorgersi che in realtà si è soli”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Nel flusso indefinito del tempo e degli stati d'animo, gran parte della storia è incisa nei sensi. E cose di nessuna importanza, insostituibili, ritornano così all'improvviso in un caffè d'inverno”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“We all believe we can choose our own path from among the many alternatives. But perhaps it's more accurate to say that we make the choice unconsciously.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces; defeat invades from within, I thought. I had lost my last ounce of strength. Before my eyes something was coming to an end, something I didn't want to end, but for which I lacked the energy to suffer, much less fight. There was only a leaden hopelessness in me. Maybe someday I'd be able to think over it calmly, in a brighter place than this, full of sunlight and flowers. But by then it would be too late.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“But it won't hurt so much if you just accept it as a part of life.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“What's wrong?'' I asked. Yuichi said, his face serious, ''That's all everyone has been saying for the last month, and it really hurts.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Isn't it nice, I thought. Hearing the grandmother's gentle words and seeing the child's face suddenly turn adorable when she smiled, I became envious. I'd never see my own grandmother again. Never again.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“Little by little, light and air came into my heart.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“I saw a straight road leading from me to him.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“In a downpour of blessings, I prayed, as though it were a hymn: Let me become stronger.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen