Haruki Murakami Quotes

When people insist on perfection or nothing, they get nothing.

I don't think we should be a model family living in a model home.

You want the world to be set up for you, but sometimes it just isn't.

Please don't try to make things nice! All the wrong notes are right. Just copy as I have -- I want it that way.

There is no right way to live. You preclude a lot of life by trying to conform to that kind of ideal or stereotype. And it's a natural inclination in a world where it's so complex and so occasionally valueless, morally bankrupt, and chaotic that we want to reach back to something in our past.

I don't have any rules, because I would only be breaking them, so it's a waste of time

Do not try to produce an ideal child, it would find no fitness in this world.

The world isn't tidy; it's a mess. I don't try to make it neat.

You cannot be completely nice. It's impossible. Who is it? Who is the perfect guy? Show him to me! It doesn't exist. And thank god.

Really, I'm a neurotic perfectionist. Every single word in the script is the one that I want.

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.

Life is a goddam mess...but you wouldn't want to miss it!

Unfortunately, the world has not been designed for the convenience of mathematicians.

I'm addicted to perfection. Problem with my life is I was always also addicted to chaos. Perfect chaos.

Perfectionism is self-destructive simply because there is no such thing as perfect. Perfection is an unattainable goal. Additionally, perfectionism is more about perception - we want to be perceived as perfect. Again, this is unattainable - there is no way to control perception, regardless of how much time and energy we spend trying.

It would be nice if life worked this way, stripping the dirt from our lives and sending us back out into the world clean. But some dirt is destined to lingered.

My father once said, ‘If the whole world wants to go left and you feel like going right, go right. You don’t have to follow. You don’t have to make a big deal about which way you’re going. Just go. It’s very easy.’

I feel like our generation is just so obsessed with the idea of perfection and we don't need to be.

Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art. Irregularity is the basis of all art.

Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.

Baseball is a lot like the Army, there aren't many individuals. About the only difference is that baseball players get to stay in nice hotels instead of barracks.

Hollywood wants to make women so perfect. Perfect hair. Perfect job. Perfect manners... I know some of the most beautiful women, and they are so weird. That's what makes them funny and captivating.

In a world where you are constantly asked to be 'committed,' it is liberating to give yourself the license to be a dilettante. Commit to nothing. Try everything.

What you create doesn't have to be perfect.

Just because you're perfectionist doesn't mean you're perfect.