# Quote — Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

> The elevator continued its impossibly slow ascent. Or at least I imagined it was ascent. There was no telling for sure: it was so slow that all sense of direction simply vanished. It could have been going down for all I knew, or maybe it wasn’t moving at all. But let’s just assume it was going up. Merely a guess. Maybe I’d gong up twelve stories, then down three. Maybe I’d circled the globe. How would I know?

- Author: [Haruki Murakami](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami.md)
- Book: [Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami#Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World_(1985)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/the-elevator-continued

## More from this book

> First, about the mind. You tell me there is no fighting or hatred or desire in the Town. That this is a beautiful dream, and I do want your happiness. But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/first-about-the.md)

> I always say—a prejudice on my part, I'm sure—you can tell a lot about a person's character from his choice of sofa. Sofas constitute a realm inviolate unto themselves. This, however, is something that only those who have grown up sitting on good sofas will appreciate. It's like growing up reading good books or listening to good music. One good sofa breeds another good sofa; one bad sofa breeds another bad sofa. That's how it goes. There are people who drive luxury cars, but have only second- or third-rate sofas in their homes. I put little trust in such people. An expensive automobile may well be worth its price, but it's only an expensive automobile. If you have the money, you can buy it, anyone can buy it. Procuring a good sofa, on the other hand, requires style and experience and philosophy. It takes money, yes, but you also need a vision of the superior sofa. That sofa among sofas.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/i-always-say-a.md)

> Kindness and a caring mind are two separate qualities. Kindness is manners. It is superficial custom, an acquired practice. Not so the mind. The mind is deeper, stronger, and, I believe, it is far more inconstant.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/kindness-and-a-caring.md)