"You know what they say... In travelling, companionship. In life, compassion."
- sumio mondo

from kafka on the shore (the haruki murakami novel which released the following year):

“In traveling, a companion, in life, compassion,'" she repeats, making sure of it. If she had paper and pencil, it wouldn't surprise me if she wrote it down. "So what does that really mean? In simple terms."
I think it over. It takes me a while to gather my thoughts, but she waits patiently.
"I think it means," I say, "that chance encounters are what keep us going. In simple terms.”