Wisdom of Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto (born July 24th 1964) is the pen name of Japanese writer Mahoko Yoshimoto.

She began her writing career while working as a waitress in 1987. Her debut work, Kitchen had over 60 printings in Japan alone. Two film adaptations were produced from the book. Her works include twelve novels and seven collections of essays, all of which have sold over six million copies worldwide. She writes about love and friendship, home and family, and the influence of loss on the human spirit.

Below we include some words of wisdom by Banana Yoshimoto.

"Sometimes people put up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down."

"As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. 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."

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

"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."

"Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life."

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

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

"It’s a marvelous thing, the ocean. For some reason when two people sit together looking out at it, they stop caring whether they talk or stay silent. You never get tired of watching it. And no matter how rough the waves get, you’re never bothered by the noise the water makes by the commotion of the surface - it never seems too loud, or too wild."

"No matter where you are, you're always a bit on your own, always an outsider."

"When was it I realized that, on this truly dark and solitary path we all walk, the only way we can light is our own? Although I was raised with love, I was always lonely. Someday, without fail, everyone will disappear, scattered into the blackness of time."

"But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there."

"What was important wasn't the fireworks, it was that we were together this evening, together in this place, looking up into the sky at the same time."

"The ritual of our daily lives permeate our very bodies."

"I really believe that no matter how old people get, they tend to change in certain ways depending on how people treat them - they change their colors."

"Love is the kind of thing that's already happening by the time you notice it, that's how it works, and no matter how old you get, that doesn't change. Except that you can break it up into two entirely distinct types -- love where there's an end in sight and love where there isn't."

"It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness."

"People who are going to get along really well know it almost as soon as they meet. You spend a little while talking and everyone starts to feel this conviction, you're all equally sure that you're at the beginning of something good. That's how it is when you meet people you're going to be with for a long time."

"The place I like best in this 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. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and immaculate. Where tile catching the light (ting! Ting!)”

"No one can survive childhood without being wounded. Everyone remembers at least one time when their parents rejected them, pushed them away, even though they may have still been in the womb, blind, and unable to speak. That's why, as adults, we all look for someone to become our parents again, and for someone to look after us in times of need. And we search for a person to live with who can provide the companionship we so desperately want."

"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."

"She was still there inside me now, just as she always was: a life put on hold, a memory I didn't know how to handle."

"People aren't overcome by situations or outside forces. Defeat comes from within."

"Her eyes were those of someone who's just fallen in love, someone who sees nothing but her lover, someone who has no fear of anything. The eyes of someone who believes that every dream will come true, that reality will move if you just give it a push."

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

"That's the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those of us who stay up all night, it can feel as long as a lifetime. You get a lot done"

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

"Over and over, we begin again."

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