The following quotes were selected by members of the "Mr. N Club," Hoshi's long-time fan club, as some of their favorites from his novels and essays.

• There are two things that drive humans to take chances: One is hope and the other is hopelessness.*


• If you buy a small disaster and keep it as your own, it may very well protect you from a bigger one.


• Human thought is faster than light.


• If you look at incidents as news, they're ephemeral. But if you look at them as contradictions to humanity, they never grow old.


• While we inherit pathos from our past, we should strive to gain humor in our future.


• Ambiguity is the best solution to a problem that's too difficult to solve.


• Forgetting is the secret to longevity.


• "Absolutely" is a warning sign. It means "Don't fully trust this."


• Reality is singular. The fictitious worlds are many. From them, we reexamine the one.*


• Chitchat has value because it is useless. If you want something useful, buy a book.*

* Quotes are from his novel "The Whim Quotient." Others are from his essays.

Photos courtesy of Shinichi Furukawa (Mr. N Club)