Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

• "Even so, there were times I saw freshness and beauty. I could smell the air, and I really loved rock ‘n’ roll. Tears were warm, and girls were beautiful, like dreams. I liked movie theaters, the darkness and intimacy, and I liked the deep, sad summer nights."

Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

• "Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That’s part of what it means to be alive."

Haruki Murakamu, Sputnik Sweetheart

• "I began to draw an invisible boundary between myself and other people. No matter who I was dealing with. I maintained a set distance, carefully monitoring the person’s attitude so that they wouldn’t get any closer. I didn’t easily swallow what other people told me. My only passions were books and music."

Robert Smith

• I fucking hate the idea of normal. Normal is all that’s bad about living. All that’s boring about life. Why be normal?

Francesca Lia Block

• "Our eyelashes brushed like they would weave together by themselves, turning us into one wild thing. I say, “I think I missed you before I met you even."

Francesca Lia Block, Violet & Claire

• "At first we raced through space, like shadows and light; her rants, my raves; her dark hair, my blonde; black dresses, white. She's a purple-black African-violet-dark butterfly and I a white moth. We were two wild ponies, Dawn and Midnight, the wind electrifying our manes and our hooves quaking the city; we were photo negatives of each other, together making the perfect image of a girl."

Degas

• "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."