Quotes from Min Jin Lee

He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes.

Our lives will be strange at first, but we'll ask God for his blessing—on us and the child." Sunja imagined that his prayer would act like a thick cloak to shield them.

After losing four of his children and his wife to cholera five years ago, Shin found that he could not speak much about loss. Everything a person said sounded glib and foolish...His faith had not wavered, but his temperament had altered seemingly forever. It was as if a warm room had gotten cooler, but it was still the same room.

Pay attention: The ones who pay the shit tax are mostly people who were born in the wrong place and the wrong time and are hanging on to the planet by their broken fingernails. They don't even know the fucking rules of the game. You can't even get mad at 'em when they lose. Life just fucks and fucks and fucks bastards like that.

You saw all sorts of things in a church where forgiveness was expected.

never be a doctor. He couldn't see how he'd ever make any money in Korea when honest Koreans were losing property every day.

They were shot. All landowners who were foolish enough to stick around were shot. Communists see people only in simple categories.

There's nothing fucking worse than knowing that you're just like everybody else. What a messed-up, lousy existence. And in this great country of Japan—the birthplace of all my fancy ancestors—everyone, everyone wants to be like everyone else. That's why it is such a safe place to live, but it's also a dinosaur village. It's extinct, pal. Carve up your piece and invest your spoils elsewhere.

Her shoulders were thin and wide and her neck long, reminding him of an illustration of a swan on a box of detergent.

His presence would prove to the world that she was a good person, an educated person, a liberal person. 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.

She wasn't hideous or shameful to look at, but she had prematurely reached the stage in a woman's life when no one noticed her entering or leaving a room.

Lately, Sunja wanted to hold babies. How wonderful it would be not to have to worry about a war or having enough food to eat, or finding shelter. Solomon and Phoebe wouldn't have to labor the way she and Kyunghee had, but could just enjoy their children.

There are a lot of troubled young women in this world. We can't save them all.

My life is nothing. It wouldn't have any meaning without putting it to good use

He didn't want to play this stupid game where they wouldn't talk about what was real.

It's a filthy world... No one is clean. Living makes you dirty.

Quieres ver a un hombre muy malo? Haz que tenga más éxito del que nunca había imaginado.

If you love anyone, you cannot help but share his suffering.

The decent father had begged the matchmaker to find grooms for his unmarried daughters, since it was better for virgins to marry anyone than to scrounge for food when men and women were hungry, and virtue was expensive.

being Korean was just another horrible encumbrance, much like being poor or having a shameful family you could not cast off

The wealthy Japanese have already sent their families to the country. They've already converted their cash into gold. The rich do not care about politics; they will say anything to save their skin. You're not rich, but you're smart, and I'm telling you that you have to leave today.

but its sharp edge had dulled and softened like sea glass.

Leave the others if you have to.

More than anything, she was afraid of running into him. Yet it would be worse, she thought, never to see him at all.