Kazuo Ishiguro Quotes

Powerful Kazuo Ishiguro for Daily Growth

About Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro (born 1954) is a British-Japanese novelist whose poignant explorations of memory, identity, and time have earned him widespread acclaim, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Ishiguro moved with his family to Britain when he was five years old, settling in Surbiton, England. This dual cultural heritage would later become a significant influence on his work. Ishiguro studied philosophy and English literature at the University of Kent before beginning his writing career. His debut novel, 'A Pale View of Hills' (1982), was an introspective exploration of the experiences of Japanese women during and after World War II, a topic informed by Ishiguro's own family history. His subsequent works, such as 'An Artist of the Floating World' (1986) and 'The Remains of the Day' (1989), continued to delve into the complexities of memory and the past, often through the perspectives of characters grappling with their own histories. These novels established Ishiguro as a master of subtle, nuanced storytelling. In 1995, he published 'The Tokyo Stories,' a collection of short stories set in his native Japan, showcasing his ability to craft tales that are at once universal and deeply personal. His most famous work, 'Never Let Me Go' (2005), is a dystopian science fiction novel exploring the ethics of cloning and the nature of love and identity. Ishiguro's novels often blur the line between reality and artifice, challenging readers to question their own perceptions of truth and memory. His unique narrative style, characterized by understatement and psychological depth, has made him one of the most respected contemporary novelists.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The secret of my identity was safe with him, and I could be at peace." - The Remains of the Day

In this quote from "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro, the speaker, a butler named Stevens, is expressing relief that his complex emotions and personal past (his "secret identity") have been understood and accepted by another character, Mr. Farraday. This understanding allows Stevens to feel at peace because he no longer has to hide or suppress his true feelings, which he had been doing for most of his life due to his strict adherence to duty. The quote underscores the importance of trust, acceptance, and authentic self-expression in relationships, and it suggests that finding someone who understands us can provide a sense of peace and freedom.

"We're just observers, really, aren't we? Watching the parade pass by, making up our own stories about it as we go along." - Never Let Me Go

This quote by Kazuo Ishiguro from "Never Let Me Go" suggests a detached yet reflective perspective on life. It proposes that individuals, in the grand scheme of things, are mere observers, passively witnessing the unfolding events of their lives and society. The "parade" could symbolize the journey of life, with its ups and downs, moments of joy and sorrow, and all the experiences that make us who we are. However, as observers, we possess a unique ability to interpret these events, to create our own narratives, and find meaning in them. This power of perception and interpretation is essential for personal growth and understanding. The quote encourages introspection and reminds us that the stories we tell ourselves about our experiences shape our emotions, thoughts, and actions, making them a vital part of our lives.

"The act of running away, I think, is highly underrated." - The Buried Giant

In this quote, Kazuo Ishiguro suggests that escaping or running away from difficult situations may not be recognized as a valuable choice, yet it can often provide necessary relief, reflection, and distance to better understand and cope with complex issues. This act of leaving behind troubles allows individuals to regain perspective, learn, grow, and ultimately return with renewed strength and wisdom.

"In the beginning was the memory, and the memory was with the words." - The Remains of the Day

In this quote from Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day," the use of "memory" refers to the emotional recollections and experiences that shape a person's identity and perspective. Here, memory is not just about facts or events but the deeply felt sentiments associated with them. The phrase "the memory was with the words" suggests that memories are intricately linked with language, shaping how we express ourselves and communicate our thoughts, feelings, and experiences to others. This quote underscores the profound connection between personal narratives, individual identities, and the power of memory in shaping our lives and relationships.

"I long to be able simply to accept life as it is and not as it isn't." - The River Between Us (from A Pale View of Hills)

This quote by Kazuo Ishiguro from "A Pale View of Hills" expresses a yearning for contentment with the present, rather than dwelling on unattainable or idealized versions of life. It suggests a struggle to find peace in accepting reality as it is, without constantly comparing it to what one wishes it could be. This sentiment can be deeply relatable as we often grapple with our desires and expectations against the complexities of life's actual experiences.

I think jogging is bad for your health. All that pressure on the knees and back cannot be good for you.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Think, Bad, I Think, Jogging

Many of our deepest motives come, not from an adult logic of how things work in the world, but out of something that is frozen from childhood.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Work, Childhood, Motives, Adult

My friends and I took songwriting very, very seriously. My hero was and still is Bob Dylan, but also people like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and that whole generation.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Generation, Very, Took, None

I do feel part of that generation of people who were rather idealistic in the '70s and became disillusioned in the '80s. Not just about social services issues, but the world.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Generation, Rather, Became, Idealistic

I like the fact that by mimicking the way memory works, a writer can actually write in a fluid way - one solid scene doesn't have to fall on another solid scene, you can just have a fragment that then dovetails into another one that took place 30 years apart from it.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Memory, Fact, Works, Fragment

I want my words to survive translation.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Words, Want, Survive, Translation

I want my words to survive translation. I know when I write a book now I will have to go and spend three days being intensely interrogated by journalists in Denmark or wherever. That fact, I believe, informs the way I write - with those Danish journalists leaning over my shoulder.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Book, Fact, I Write, Translation

Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Dreams, About, Had, Screenplays

There's a practical problem about time and energy, and a more subtle problem of what it does to a writer's head, to continually analyze why they write, where it all comes from, where it's going to.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

More, Going, Practical, Analyze

There's something peculiar about writing fiction. It requires an interesting balance between seeing the world as a child and having the wisdom of a middle-aged person. The further you get from childhood and the experience of the teenage years, the greater the danger of losing that wellspring.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Fiction, About, Teenage, Teenage Years

This is the big question that we all have about our children: How much, how soon, do we tell our children the less comfortable facts about the world they're going to inherit?

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Question, Big, Going, Big Question

I'm interested in memory because it's a filter through which we see our lives, and because it's foggy and obscure, the opportunities for self-deception are there. In the end, as a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Memory, Through, Rather, In The End

I'm not at all interested in the brave who fight against the odds and win. I am interested in those who accept their lot, as that is what many people in the world are doing. They do their best in ghastly conditions.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Doing, Against, Ghastly, Odds

We always like to keep our children in a kind of bubble and censor the bad news about the world. We like to tell them the world is full of benevolent, nice people.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

News, Bad, Always, Benevolent

I don't hang out with the glitteringly successful people; I hang out with people who've been friends for many years, and to some extent I feel my worldly success is a bit uncomfortable for them.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Some, Hang, Extent, Worldly

I work very regular hours, roughly 9 to 5:30. I think I have it much easier than a lot of parents. I just sit at home, I have a very flexible timetable, and I'm very fortunate in that I don't have money problems. I have lunch with my wife at home. I don't have to commute, so I have much more time with my family.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Lunch, I Think, Very, Timetable

People aren't quite sure what it means when a book is a Booker Prize winner. They're not quite sure what is being recommended, what literary values it stands for, because every year it stands for something different.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Year, Sure, Means, Recommended

There are things I am more interested in than the clone thing. How are they trying to find their place in the world and make sense of their lives? To what extent can they transcend their fate? As time starts to run out, what are the things that really matter?

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Fate, Run, Extent, Transcend

I couldn't speak Japanese very well, passport regulations were changing, I felt British, and my future was in Britain. And it would also make me eligible for literary awards. But I still think I'm regarded as one of their own in Japan.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Very, Japan, Britain, Eligible

I had been plunged into a different world. I found myself spending half my time answering weird questions on book tours in the Midwest. People would stand up and explain to me the situation in their office and ask me whether they should resign or not.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Explain, Been, Half, Answering

Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory. I like the atmospheres that result if episodes are narrated through the haze of memory.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Memory, Through, Actual, Episodes

My wife is the most savage critic. She doesn't feel intimidated by my reputation. As far as she's concerned, she's just criticising a boyfriend who'd recently had a go at fiction. She can tell me to abandon whole novels.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Tell, Fiction, Concerned, Novels

When I write a novel, I want it to be completely different from a screenplay. I'm very conscious of the difference, and I want novels to work purely as novels. Otherwise I don't see how they'll survive - why don't we just all go to the movies or watch television.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Very, I Write, Purely, Novels

We all live inside bodies that will deteriorate. But when you look at human beings, they're capable of very decent things: love, loyalty. When time is running out, they don't care about possessions or status. They want to put things right if they've done wrong.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Love, Very, Bodies, Deteriorate

Now when I look back to the Guildford of that time, it seems far more exotic to me than Nagasaki.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Look, More, Back, Exotic

I loved cowboy films and TV series, and I learned bits of English from them. My favorite was 'Laramie', with Robert Fuller and John Smith. I used to watch 'The Lone Ranger', which had been famous in Japan as well. I idolized these cowboys.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Been, TV, Smith, Idolized

The book was at a reasonably high position on the New York Times... before I was in the country. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see if my presence here would push it up or down.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

New, Country, Here, Reasonably

The world is crawling with authors touring now. They're like performance artists.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Performance, World, Like, Authors

When you become a parent, or a teacher, you turn into a manager of this whole system. You become the person controlling the bubble of innocence around a child, regulating it.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Parent, Manager, Innocence, Controlling

I felt slightly superior to student politics, for instance. I had no reason to think this, but I thought of myself as slightly more seasoned. I became quite cynical talking to my student friends.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Politics, Reason, Slightly, Cynical

I had the sense when I looked back over my life I would actually see a mess of decisions, a few of which I had thought about, some of which I had sort of stumbled on and many that I had no control over whatsoever.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

My Life, Thought, Some, Stumbled

When I got to 40 or so... I had the sense when I looked back over my life I would actually see a mess of decisions, a few of which I had thought about, some of which I had sort of stumbled on, and many that I had no control over whatsoever.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

My Life, Thought, Some, Stumbled

I spent ages figuring out things like viewpoint, how you tell the story, and so on.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Like, Viewpoint, Spent, Figuring

I don't have a deep link with England like, say, Jonathan Coe or Hanif Kureishi might demonstrate. For me, it is like a mythical place.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Deep, England, Like, Mythical

I'm always trying to make something that is impossible to film. Why would somebody just read a novel when they can see it on TV or in the cinema? I really have to think of the things fiction can do that film can't and play to the strengths of the novel. With a novel, you can get right inside somebody's head.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Play, Fiction, TV, Novel

When you're lucky enough to have a good film made of your novel - and 'Never Let Me Go' is, believe me, a heartbreakingly good film indeed - you get wonderfully talented individuals each focusing on their special area.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Lucky, Your, Good Film, Novel

Why would somebody just read a novel when they can see it on TV or in the cinema? I really have to think of the things fiction can do that film can't and play to the strengths of the novel. With a novel, you can get right inside somebody's head.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Play, Think, TV, Novel

I think I had actually served my apprenticeship as a writer of fiction by writing all those songs. I had already been through phases of autobiographical or experimental stuff.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Think, Through, Been, Apprenticeship

What is difficult is the promotion, balancing the public side of a writer's life with the writing. I think that's something a lot of writers are having to face. Writers have become much more public now.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Think, I Think, Side, Balancing

I wouldn't want to try to adapt something of my own. It would be like going back to school and doing all my exams again.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Doing, Like, Going, Exams

I started as a songwriter and wanted to be like Leonard Cohen. I've always seen my stories as enlarged songs.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Always, Like, Stories, Songwriter

To some extent, at least, you have to shield children from what you know and drip-feed information to them. Sometimes that is kindly meant, and sometimes not.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Some, Meant, Extent, Kindly

Even though I spent the first five years of my life in Nagasaki, going to Japan can be really difficult. Even if they know I've been brought up in the West, they still expect me to understand all the subtleties of their culture, and if I get it wrong, it matters much more than if a British person gets it wrong. I find it intimidating.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

My Life, Been, Brought, Intimidating

I was a little concerned that a lot of people thought I wrote Merchant Ivory movies. I also thought if I was ever going to write something strange and difficult, that was the time.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Thought, Going, Concerned, Merchant

I've always had a great fondness for English detective fiction such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Always, Fiction, Fondness, Detective

I try to always go for something... very interior, following thoughts and memories, something that I think is difficult to do on the screen, which is essentially a third-person medium.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Always, Very, Which, Medium

What interests me is the surprising enormous extent to which most people accept the fate that's been given to them, and find some dignity.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Extent, Which, Given, Interests

If you look at my last songs and first short stories, there is a real connection between them.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Last, Stories, Them, Connection

There's something very misleading about the literary culture that looks at writers in their 30s and calls them 'budding' or 'promising', when in fact they're peaking.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Fact, Very, Literary, Calls

Our family arrived in England in 1960. At that time I thought the war was ancient history. But if I think of 15 years ago from now, that's 1990, and that seems like yesterday to me.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Thought, I Think, Our, Years Ago

As a writer, I'm more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

More, Rather, Actually, Happened

I discovered that my imagination came alive when I moved away from the immediate world around me.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Alive, Away, Discovered, Came

I'm very fortunate in that I don't have money problems. I have lunch with my wife at home. I don't have to commute, so I have much more time with my family.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Wife, Lunch, Very, Fortunate

There comes a point when you can more or less count the number of books you're going to write before you die.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Die, Going, Before, More Or Less

All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Grow, Trauma, Deceived, Grow Up

People were incredibly kind to our family and went out of their way to help.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Help, Kind, Were, Incredibly

Memory is quite central for me. Part of it is that I like the actual texture of writing through memory.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Memory, Through, Actual, Texture

When I see films made from books, I make a huge effort not to remember the book. It's important to see the film as a film.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Book, Made, Films, Effort

I like novelists who can create other interesting worlds.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

Other, Like, Novelists, Worlds

There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

I Am, Another, Having, Might

When I was younger, I didn't read that much. I was more interested in film and music. Now I'm curious. I want to know what it's all about.

- Kazuo Ishiguro

More, Younger, Read, Curious

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