Quotes from Hwang Sok-yong

People hated and killed each other back then. Now even those who survived are dying, leaving this world one by one. Unless we find a way to forgive one another, none of us will ever be able to see each other again. (2007: 88)

As it turns out, the atrocities we suffered were committed by none other than ourselves, and the inner sense of guilt and fear sparked by this incident helped form the roots of the frantic hatred that thrives to this day. (2007: 9)

They were happy to help someone, to succeed at something, even if they weren't to benefit. We'd been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean. I realised that if we boosted one another, maybe we'd get a little closer.

I realized that life means waiting, enduring the passage of time. Nothing ever quite meets our expectations, yet as long as we are alive, time flows on, and everything eventually comes to pass.

The purpose of life's good and bad is to teach us to be better people, which is why you have to overcome this and appreciate the beauty of life. That's what God wants from us.

No sooner did I start college than President Park Chung-hee's Yushin dictatorship began. Everything was in turmoil, and not a day went by without riots and school closures. My classmates were being arrested left and right, and every time I went to class, there were fewer and fewer of them.

We stopped telling our stories in detail, but whenever the subject of our home countries came up, it always seemed to end in fighting and starvation and disease and brutal, fearful generals seizing power. There were still so many people dying in every corner of the world, and people crossing endless borders in search of food, just so they could live without the constant threat of death.

They say we're here because of desire. In our desire to live better than others, we are cruel to each other.

Later, when I travelled to other parts of the world and saw numerous cities and glittering lights and the vitality of those crowds of people, I was struck with disappointment and disgust at how they had all abandoned us and looked the other way.

Las gentes son iguales en todo el mundo: todas carecen de algo, todas caen enfermas, todas actúan con necedad, y todas sucumben a la ambición.

I can't say a thing. What is there to say? I have given birth to a son! What more can I possibly hope for? I hear his footsteps crossing the front yard and gradually fading away, off into the distance. As the silence grows, I suddenly realize that hes gone. He's gone to someplace far away, and he's never coming back.(2007: 153)

R]egardless of one's cause, one should always treat those close to him as well as humanly possible.

A]ll business for us men on earth is based on material things -- so we've just got to work hard and share the fruits of our labors with one another.

I suppose the time is ripe for them now, for the people who were there. They're ready now, I think. So... they appear before us as part of their redemption. But you and I, we weren't to blame, were we? Suddenly slamming his thick palm down on the table, Uncle Some shouted, Show me one soul who wasn't to blame! (2007: 162)

He's my hyung,' Baldspot said. 'I didn't know you had an older brother.' 'He fell off a garbage truck!' he said with a giggle. 'Well now, what can't you get from a garbage truck these days?' the woman chuckled.

becoming a grown-up did not mean good things were waiting for you.

Plus. the feeling of sudden adulthood that came with getting drunk wasn't bad either.

If your heart isn't in the right place, you're no different from the beasts in the forest.

God too, has sinned, that's what I used to think. He looked down on this blazing hell, and he remained silent. (2007: 142)

What kind of soldier carries music instead of guns?

The people your brother killed - well, they all had souls. They weren't Satan. Ryu Yohan wasn't Satan, either. His faith was twisted, that's all. I know now. I know that God is innocent. (2007: 143)