Yoko Ogawa

Though I’ve tried, I’ve found no way to fill in the voids left by the Memory Police.

I would have been about seven or eight years old, dressed in a pink lace skirt my mother had made for me. It was by then much too short, even when I pulled on the lace, and I remember being terribly worried that my cousin, coming up behind me on the stairs, would be able to see my underwear.

he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers. This gave us confidence even when our best efforts came to nothing.

We called him the Professor.

Still, you refuse to give up

staggering on step by step, determined to continue the search ... until you see it at last, the oasis of another prime number, a place of rest and cool, clear water...."

Life isn't going to be easier, nor is anyone going to make a fortune, just because they know something about prime numbers

I couldn’t hear him clearly, but I decided not to ask him to repeat himself, in case it had been something less romantic

Jealousy seems to make me suffer in the most unexpected ways

I must have had a good reason for wanting to kill myself, but I’ve forgotten what it was