It wouldnt be make-believe

If you believed in me.

Either Im funny or the worlds funny. I dont know which. The bottle
and lid dont fit. It could be the bottles fault or the lids fault. In
either case, theres no denying that the fit is bad.
She hated to see her belongings pile up. She felt guilty whenever
she bought something. I dont really need this, she would tell
herself. Seeing the nicer clothing and shoes in her closet would give
her a pain in the chest and constrict her breathing. Such sights
suggestive of freedom and opulence would, paradoxically,
remind Aomame of her restrictive childhood.
What did it mean for a person to be free? She would often ask
herself. Even if you managed to escape from one cage, werent you
just in another, larger one? Aomame
If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person,
then theres salvation in life. Even if you cant get together with that
person. Aomame to Ayumi
Even if things were the same, peoples perception of them might
have been very different back then. The darkness of night was
probably deeper then, so the moon must have been much bigger
and brighter. And of course people didnt have records or tapes or
CDs. They couldnt hear proper performances of music anytime they
liked: it was always something special.
Things are so convenient for us these days, our perceptions are
probably that much duller. Even if its the same moon hanging in the
sky, we may be looking at something quite different. the dowager
to Aomame
I like history books too. They teach us that were basically the
same, whether now or in the old days. the dowager to Aomame
Human beings are ultimately nothing but carriers
passageways for genes. They ride us into the ground like
racehorses from generation to generation. Genes dont think about
what constitutes good or evil. They dont care whether we are happy
or unhappy. Were just a means to an end for them. They only thing

they think about is what is most efficient for them. the dowager
to Aomame
The ones who did it can always rationalize their actions and even
forget what they did. They can turn away from things they dont
want to see. But the surviving victims can never forget. They cant
turn away. Their memories are passed on from parent to child.
Thats what the world is, after all: an endless battle of
contrasting memories. Ayumi to Aomame
Wakeful nights often give people useless thoughts. Ushikawa to
Tengo
If you cant understand it without an explanation, you cant
understand it with an explanation. Komatsu to Tengo
The truth is something observable and provable. Sakigake leader
to Aomame
[The Basis of Religion]
If a certain belief call it Belief A makes the life of that man or
this woman appear to be something of deep meaning, then for them
Belief A is the truth. If Belief B makes their lives appear to be
powerless and puny, then Belief B turns out to be a falsehood. The
distinction is quite clear. If someone insists that Belief B is the truth,
people will probably hate him, ignore him, or, in some cases, attack
him. If means nothing to them that Belief B might be logical or
provable. Most people barely manage to preserve their sanity by
denying and rejecting images of themselves as powerless and
puny. Sakigake leader to Aomame
All flesh, with only minor differences, is a powerless and puny thing
doomed soon to disintegrate and disappear. That is an unmistakable
truth. But what, then, of a persons spirit? Sakigake leader to
Aomame
Someone once said that nothing costs more and yields less benefit
than revenge. Aomame to Sakigake leader (Winston Churchill)
It is not that the meaning cannot be explained. But there are
certain meanings that are lost forever the moment they are
explained in words. Sakigake leader to Aomame

The religion brings many people together, so some degree of

discipline is necessary, of course, but if you focus too much on
formalities, you can lose sight of your original purpose. Things like
precepts and doctrines are, ultimately, just expedients. The
important thing is not the frame itself but what is inside the frame.
Buzzcut to Aomame
Tengo suddenly recalled the fact that people lose fifty million skin
cells every day. The cells get scraped off, turn into invisible dust,
and disappear into the air. Maybe we are nothing but skin cells as
far as the world is concerned. If so, theres nothing mysterious about
somebody suddenly disappearing one day.