inf-site/quotes/8529d66b-b124-48d9-b7d8-3d2a1e03dab9

author: Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
content: "\"Gays, lebians, straights, feminists, fascist pigs, communists, Hare Krishnas\u2014\
  none of them bother me. I don't care what banner they raise. But what I can't stand\
  \ are hollow people. When I'm with them I just can't bear it, and wind up saying\
  \ things I shouldn't. With those women\u2014I should've just let it slide... But\
  \ I can't do that. I say things I shouldn't do things I shouldn't do. I can't control\
  \ myself. That's one of my weak points. Do you know why that's a weak point of mine?\"\
  \n\n\"'Cause if you take every single person who lacks imagination seriously, there's\
  \ no end to it,\" I say.\n\n\"That's it,\" Oshima says. He taps his temple lightly\
  \ with the eraser of the pencil. \"But there's one thing I want you to remember,\
  \ Kafka. ... Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from\
  \ reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the\
  \ things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe. Of course it's\
  \ important to know what's right and wrong. Individual errors in judgment can usually\
  \ be corrected. As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be\
  \ turned around. But intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites\
  \ that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They're a lost cause,\
  \ and I don't want anyone like that coming in here.\""
id: 8529d66b-b124-48d9-b7d8-3d2a1e03dab9