Sosuke Natsukawa Quotes

“Occasionally there were shouts and calls, but because everyone had the same pale, unchanging expression, the liveliness was only an illusion. The whole scene was oddly unreal.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“They had already walked a considerable distance to get to the castle and now she’d climbed a long flight of stairs.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“There is nothing useful to be gained from old books. In fact, they are full of mistakes. And yet, there are people who insist on reading them and clinging to the worthless trash that was written in former times. Just look at what we’ve got lined up here. Every one of them outdated, stuck in the ugly and perverse traditions of the past. People mustn’t be constrained by those ways of bygone days. Human beings are freer now. They lead far richer lives than ever before.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“This General has a twisted way of fighting. He doesn’t reveal the truth of his intentions. He appears to speak but in fact he says nothing. He sucks the truth from his visitors and turns it into his own power.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Not everyone has a heart as strong as yours. In fact, most people don’t. These weak-hearted people easily fall prey to other people’s over-confidence. Making your own decisions and acting for yourself requires taking responsibility. And so, these people stop thinking for themselves. It’s easier to leave everything up to somebody else. And that’s how eventually they end up abandoning their own personal truths.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Those who have abandoned their own truths just stop thinking altogether. They sink into a childlike delusion that some great general oozing with confidence will solve everything for them. There’s nothing more comfortable than dozing off without a care in the world in the backseat of a car being driven by your father. They don’t even consider that there will come a time when they’ll have to take the wheel themselves. Many adults, no matter how old they get, remain children at heart.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“The voice that echoed in the shadows was controlled but completely devoid of feeling. Oppressive and heavy, and at the same time as shapeless as water.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Nanami was doing her best to add a little humour to the situation, but the cat wasn’t amused.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“After listening to the General’s oppressive voice, this young man’s way of speaking soothed Nanami’s heart and filled her with a pleasant warmth.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Still, the stairs of this unfamiliar train station seemed to go on for much longer than she’d expected.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“It’s the same for me. Both of my parents work nonstop from morning to night. Always so busy that they barely spend any time with us. Dual income, but somehow we’re still struggling with money. It’s a tough old world, isn’t it?”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“In this place, strange encounters and mysterious happenings were somehow perfectly normal everyday events.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Tolstoy, Hesse, Kafka, Nietzsche, all those distinguished names arranged side by side, the full canon of their works. Dostoevsky was intimidating just by his presence, but the names of Kawabata Yasunori and Natsume Soseki, written in familiar kanji characters, were somehow comforting. Even though there were books that Nanami had read, she felt as if she had barely crossed the threshold into the world of such profound literature.
The exquisite cloth binding of The Iliad and the gorgeous arabesque cover design of The Canterbury Tales made you want to snatch them up. The titles of Capek’s Rossum’s Universal Robots and Mann’s The Magic Mountain had long since caught her imagination, and she already planned to read them.
She could see that every book had been placed with the greatest of care. Last time she was here, she’d been in no state to really observe her surroundings; now her heart beat faster just being able to take it all in. For a while, Nanami gazed up at the shelves, utterly entranced.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“It feels as if you know everything about the world, Rintaro-san.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because all this weird stuff is happening, and you don’t even question it. It’s as if you understand it all already.’
‘That’s not it. It’s just that I’m a little older than you.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Nanami understood that rushing into an explanation meant you might in fact get further away from the answer. The same way that racing too quickly up a long flight of steps meant she risked having an asthma attack and being unable to go on. Taking things steadily, one step at a time, meant she would eventually make it to the exit.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“It’s not necessarily true that a person’s perspective widens with age. We need to see things with our heart as well as our mind, but that view can easily become clouded. We might treasure a book when we’re a child, then, as time passes we gradually forget it. We lose sight of a lot of important things, thinking that we are lighter for it.’
‘Has this happened to you too, Rintaro-san?’
‘I try to take care that it doesn’t, but it doesn’t always work out the way I intend. Especially in my line of work. I hear things like “only the bestselling books are masterpieces,” or “you’re only a great writer if you make money” . . . Before I know it, I find myself falling into the trap of believing that kind of twisted logic.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Once I start a story, I always read it through to the end. Scary books, difficult books, you never know what’s written there unless you read the whole thing.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Hope made a show of reviving – not with any reason to back it, but only because it is its nature to revive.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Brute force doesn’t solve anything. It just masquerades as the solution.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Books had the power to lift her spirits, to rescue her from loneliness and sadness.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“From the three Musketeers she learned how to have courage in the face of adversity.
From the Wizard of Earthsea, integrity and perseverance.
From Captain Ahab and Phileas Fogg, her indomitable spirit.
From the famous detective and the master phantom thief, Arsène Lupin, compassion and humour.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea sparkled. Beneath the Wheel was shimmering. Frederick and The Very Hungry Caterpillar both began to radiate a dazzling whiteness.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Well, humour is important when things get tough,’ the cat informed her grimly, before setting off straight for the gate.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“My father used to tell me that books contain limitless worlds. Even if it’s impossible for you to visit a place, a book can transport you there. And sometimes you come across a piece of old wisdom or an important thought that has almost been forgotten.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“And it’s not all about knowledge or wisdom. He also explained how if you read a lot of stories you become able to understand the feelings of many different people. That’s the power of imagination, and it’s one of the most important—’

‘Imagination?!’

Nanami was interrupted by the high-pitched voice of the Prime Minister. Both she and the cat jumped at the sound. From the expression of horror on the minister’s face you would have thought he’d been informed of an untimely death. He leaned towards the girl, his eyes bulging.

‘But that’s the worst evil of all!’

‘Imagination is evil?’

‘Of course. You understand absolutely nothing. Have you ever properly considered what imagination is?’

His tone had taken on the quality of a schoolteacher berating a lazy pupil: impatient and expecting no response.

‘Imagination is the ability to think about others. To put yourself in their shoes, to be able to sympathize with those weaker than oneself, to become someone who can occasionally offer a helping hand. That’s the power of imagination.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. Those with power kick those weaker than themselves to the ground, and then trample all over them. It’s a new era where winner takes all. If you show too much kindness to others, someone will seize the opportunity to take advantage of you. In other words, imagination is a terrifying force that can only destroy your rich potential, Nanami.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“What people need these days isn’t the power of imagination; they need the power not to imagine.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“The most frightening aspect of today’s competitive society is not the fierce cut-throat battles where people stop at nothing to win. It’s the overwhelming force of the system that automatically labels as a loser anyone who refuses to participate in the competition.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Choosing not to fight, not to compete, doesn’t mean you are exempt from competitive society. In today’s world, there are no longer any exemptions. Nowadays, if you don’t compete, you are automatically branded a loser. To put it another way, even choosing not to compete requires you to engage in a brutal struggle. It’s an absurd contradiction. You have to see how dangerous the power of imagination must be in such a world.”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library

“Why don’t we stick to matters closer to home? Deep down, you must have realized that imagination just robs you of the strength to fight. You’ve lived your life constantly being considerate to others, which has meant having to endure so much. Can you honestly say that you’re happy that way?”
― Sōsuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved the Library