I mentioned Readwise in Essential Software for 2025, and I was reminded of how much I value it the other day when this quote popped up:

“It’s not a question of better or worse. The point is, not to resist the flow. You go up when you’re supposed to go up and down when you’re supposed to go down. When you’re supposed to go up, find the highest tower and climb to the top. When you’re supposed to go down, find the deepest well and go down to the bottom. When there’s no flow, stay still. If you resist the flow, everything dries up. If everything dries up, the world is darkness. ‘I am he and / He is me: / Spring nightfall.’ Abandon the self, and there you are.”” (Haruki Murakami and Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)

It’s a good quote, for sure–a great one, maybe. I remember reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was back before e-readers were even a thing. I don’t even know if I got it from Amazon. But it was a tremendous book, different from what I expected, and truly transportive to a different time, place, and perspective.

Again, though, the thing isn’t that Readwise showed me a quote from a book I read–it’s that I didn’t even highlight that passage. I must have marked off that I read it in Goodreads, and Readwise will pull passsages that other readers have highlighted from time to time and show those to you. Similarly, it will show you “supplemental” highlights from other readers from books you have in fact read and highlighted on device.

And lest I let the synchronicity of the moment slip away, that Murakami quote reminds me of one of my favorite Mike Patton quotes:

“My point is we don’t ever really know, and we don’t ever really have a plan, and it’s okay. It’s okay to ride the waves here and there and then kind of figure it out. That’s what I did. That’s all.”