Quotes from The Thief

Fuminori Nakamura ·  211 pages

Rating: (3.5K votes)


“But obviously if there was no concept of ownership there’d be no concept of stealing, would there? As long as there’s one starving child in the world, all property is theft.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“You're a pickpocket right? That's cool. But you don't do it for the money, do you?"
"Maybe the end." I said abruptly.
"The end?"
"What will happen to me in the end. What happens to people who live the way I do? That's what I'd like to know.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“A wallet shows a person’s personality and lifestyle. Just like a cell phone, it is at the center, forming the nucleus of the owner’s secrets, everything he carries on him.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“Life is a mystery. But listen. Why did I turn up in your life in the first place? Do you believe in fate? Was your fate controlled by me, or was being controlled by me your fate? But in the end, aren't they just two sides of the same coin?”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“I thought about how this banknote had witnessed a moment of each one of those people’s lives. Maybe it had been at the scene of a murder, then passed from the murderer to a shopkeeper somewhere, then to a good person somewhere else.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief



“In this life, the proper way of living is to make use of both joy and suffering. They are both merely stimuli that the world presents to us. So by blending them skillfully within you, you can use them in a completely different way. If you want to be steeped in evil, you mustn’t forget good.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“This woman Koharu could undo their coats and take the money from inside the purse. A technique called ‘nakanuki.’ What’s more, the story goes that after she emptied the purse she’d close it again and button up their coat. Incredible skill.”
“Really?”
“Surrounded by misery, those people laughed at the whole world.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“When humans’ nerves detect big and small stimuli at the same time, they ignore the smaller one.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“Fate is like the relationship between the strong and the weak, don’t you think? Look at religion, for example. The Israelites, who worshipped Jehovah—why were they afraid of him? Because their god was powerful, that’s why. Everyone who believes in gods fears them to some extent.”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief


“Why does the subconscious mind make people steal? Why does it have to be stealing? Don’t you think it’s something deep-rooted in our nature?”
― Fuminori Nakamura, quote from The Thief



About the author

Fuminori Nakamura
Born place: in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Born date September 2, 1977
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Niels remembered all too well the telex machine that had received updates and warnings from Interpol's headquarters in Lyon. The telex machine had run nonstop. The monotonous sound of the mechanical printer reminded them that the world was a fucked-up place. If anyone wanted a brief, concentrated look into the world's misery, all he had to do was spend 20 minutes in front of the humming machine: serial killers, drug smuggling, women kidnapped for prostitution, cross-border traffic with stolen children, illegal immigration, enriched uranium.... You could get a headache simply from standing in front of the fax machine. It made you want to scream and run away; to jump into the sea and wish that life had never crawled up out of the water, that the dinosaurs still dominated the earth.”
― quote from The Last Good Man


“The author is at one end of the experience of writing and the reader is at the other, and the book is the contract between you.”
― Helen Humphreys, quote from The Lost Garden


“It took strength and courage to know when you were at the outside of what you could handle.”
― Laura Kaye, quote from Hard as It Gets


“Gazing around, looking up at the lofty pinnacles above, which seemed to pierce the sky, looking down upon the world,--it seemed the whole world, so limitless it stretched away at her feet,--feeling that infinite unspeakable sense of nearness to Heaven, remoteness from earth which comes only on mountain heights, she drew in a long breath of delight, and cried: "At last! at last, Alessandro! Here we are safe! This is freedom! This is joy!”
― Helen Hunt Jackson, quote from Ramona


“We share a reckless, toxic love that feeds the brokenness in me, in us. Our love is an addiction. A love that I won’t ever consider living without.”
― Angie McKeon, quote from Against All Odds


Interesting books

Kyland
(16.5K)
Kyland
by Mia Sheridan
Evil Games
(10.8K)
Evil Games
by Angela Marsons
Lila
(22.5K)
Lila
by Marilynne Robinson
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
(42.7K)
Just Mercy: A Story...
by Bryan Stevenson
End of Watch
(55.9K)
End of Watch
by Stephen King
In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
(14.7K)
In Order to Live: A...
by Yeonmi Park

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.