„It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„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.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Kitchen

„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.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Goodbye Tsugumi

„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.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Kitchen

„When someone tells you something big, it's like you're taking money from them, and there's no way it will ever go back to being the way it was. You have to take responsibility for listening.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„Once you've recognized your own limits, you've raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you're closer to the real you…“

—  Banana Yoshimoto

„Everything in life has some good in it. And when something awful happens, the goodness stands out even more--it's sad, but that's the truth.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„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, buch Asleep

„This is what it means to be loved… when someone wants to touch you, to be tender…“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions much of one's life history is etched in the senses.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Kitchen

„I love feeling the rhythm of other people's lives. It's like traveling.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„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. Sill, to cease living is unacceptable.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Kitchen

„Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who've been through something traumatic.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„It was at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Kitchen

„When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„If you don’t say what you’re thinking, you end up lying when you really need to speak up.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake

„Nothing exists in this world but me and my bed…” (p. 141).“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch Asleep

„Why were we so far apart, even when we were together? It was a nice loneliness, like the sensation of washing your face in cold water.“

—  Banana Yoshimoto, buch The Lake