Quotes from Min Jin Lee

I've seen this many times. Girls think they'll have the upper hand because these kinds of men seem so pliable, when in fact, the girls are the ones who end up paying bitterly for their mistakes. The Lord forgives, but the world does not forgive.

I'm making a wish, Solly. I'm making a wish. Sometimes, that's how it starts.

she knew what it was like to lose your children—it was like you were cursed and nothing would ever restore the desolation of your life.

Noa – because he obeyed and did what the Lord asked. Noa – because he believed when it was impossible to do so.

How else will we have a great nation unless we support our children?

Her complaint about her husband was not that he was boring or that he wasn't home enough. Nori was not a bad person. It was just that she felt like she had no clear sense of him after nineteen years of marriage, and she doubted that she ever would.

Hoonie used to listen carefully to all the men who brought him news, and he would nod, exhale resolutely, and then get up to take care of the chores. "No matter," he would say, "no matter." Whether China capitulated or avenged itself, the weeds would have to be pulled from the vegetable garden, rope sandals would need to be woven if they were to have shoes, and the thieves who tried often to steal their few chickens had to be kept away.

Every morning, Mozasu and his men tinkered with the machines to fix the outcomes—there could only be a few winners and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. How could you get angry at the ones who wanted to be in the game?

Sunja was a pragmatic woman, but even she thought Hansu was unusually cruel. The more she got to know this man, the more she realized that the man she'd loved as a girl was an idea she'd had of him – feelings without any verification.

Just study," Hansu had said. "Learn everything. Fill your mind with knowledge – it's the only kind of power no one can take away from you.

I'm not interested in fairness. And your God doesn't seem interested in fairness when He gives out talent. I see mediocrity or ambition most of the time. You have talent, but no ambition. That's why you're stuck here.

in peacetime everyone actually wants to be mediocre and is terrified of being different.

Hansu was not an ordinary person, and he was capable of actions she could neither see nor understand.

she would not believe that she was no different than her parents, that seeing him as only Korean—good or bad—was the same as seeing him only as a bad Korean. She could not see his humanity, and Noa realized that this was what he wanted most of all: to be seen as human.

Isak had never wanted to live so much, and now, just when he wanted to live until he was very old, he'd been sent home to die. "I have two sons," he said. "I have two sons. Noa and Mozasu. May the Lord bless my sons.

The Lord continues to be committed to us even when we sin. He continues to love us. In some ways, the nature of his love for us resembles an enduring marriage, or how a father or mother may love a misbegotten child. Hosea was being called to be like God when he had to love a person who would have been difficult to love. We are difficult to love when we sin; a sin is always a transgression against the Lord." Shin looked carefully at Isak's face to see if he had reached him.

Noa didn't care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn't care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes.

Nori was not a bad person. It was just that she felt like she had no clear sense of him after nineteen years of marriage, and she doubted that she ever would. He didn't seem to need her except to be a wife in name and a mother to his children. For Nori, this was enough.

Baby, when you're scared, walk round like you own the joint,

You are trying to hurt me, Sunja. That makes no sense." He shook his head. "Remember, your husband would have wanted the boys to go to school. I also want what's best for the boys and for you, Sunja. You and I—we're good friends," he said calmly. "We will always be good friends. We will always have Noa.

All her life, Sunja had heard this sentiment from other women, that they must suffer—suffer as a girl, suffer as a wife, suffer as a mother—die suffering. Go-saeng—the word made her sick. What else was there besides this?

From the moment Tatsuo was born, she had been filled with grief and self-doubt because she was never good enough. Even though she had failed, being a mother was eternal; a part of her life wouldn't end with her death.

she's in love with you.

Yakuza are the filthiest people in Japan. They are thugs; they are common criminals. They frighten shopkeepers; they sell drugs; they control prostitution; and they hurt innocent people. All the worst Koreans are members of these gangs. I took money for my education from a yakuza, and you thought this was acceptable