Quotes from Min Jin Lee

It wasn't uncommon to hear rationalizations of this sort--the longing to transform bad deeds into good ones. No one ever wanted to hear that God didn't work that way; the Lord would never want a young woman to trade her body to follow a commandment. Sins couldn't be laundered by good results.

Shall we exploit because we have been exploited,

When she was there, she had not loved it enough.

What a man wore or owned had nothing to do with his heart and character.

He had become almost inured to death; his frailty had reinforced his conviction that he must do something of consequence while he had the time.

When we were growing up, he was scolded a lot because he hated going to school. Brother had trouble with reading and writing, but he's good with people and has a remarkable memory. He never forgets anything he hears and can pick up most languages after just a little while of hearing it. He knows some Chinese, English, and Russian, too. He's always been good at fixing machines.

I hear the voice of God when I read the Bible, so yes, I suppose I understand what you felt, but there are coincidences, too. We have to be open to that. It's dangerous to think that everything is a sign from God.

The people you loved, they were always there with you. - Pachinko, Book III - Chapter 21

Her mother was unrecognizable to her; it would have been easy to say that the illness had changed her, but it wasn't so simple, was it? Illness and dying had revealed her mother's truer thoughts, the ones her mother had been protecting from her.

There was consolation: The people you loved, they were always there with you, she learned. Sometimes, she could be in front of a train kiosk or the window of a book store, and she could feel Noa's small hand when he was a boy, and she would close her eyes and think of his sweet grassy smell and remember that he had always tried his best. At those moments, it was good to be alone to hold on to him.

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? …Pachinko was a foolish game, but life was not.

Every year, she cleaned the graves of her siblings; her

Reading Group Guide "History has failed us, but no matter." How does the opening line reflect

He felt an overwhelming sense of brokenness in the people. The country had been under the colonial government for over two decades, and no one could see an end in sight. It felt like everyone had given up.

Whenever Solomon played cards, he felt strong and smooth, like he couldn't lose; he wondered if he felt this way because he didn't care about the money.

He read through Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Austen, and Trollope, then moved on to the Continent to read through much of Balzac, Zola, and Flaubert, then fell in love with Tolstoy. His favorite was Goethe; he must have read The Sorrows of Young Werther at

People are rotten everywhere you go. They're no good. You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let's see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants." Sunja nodded as he spoke,

God that did everything we thought was right and good wouldn't be the creator of the universe. He would be our puppet. He wouldn't be God. There's more to everything than we can know.

Patriotism is just an idea, so is capitalism or communism. But ideas can make men forget their own interests. And the guys in charge will exploit men who believe in ideas too much. You

life allowed revisions, she would let them stay in their bath a little longer, read them one more story before bed, and fix them another plate of shrimp.

want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let's see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.

They'd make a tasty broth from stones and bitterness.

Clothing was magic. Casey believed this. She would never admit this to her classmates in any of her women's studies courses, but she felt that an article of clothing could change a person... Each skirt, blouse, necklace, or humble shoe said something - certain pieces screamed, and others whispered seductively, but no matter, she experienced each item's expression keenly, and she loved this world. every article suggested an image, a life, a kind of woman, and Casey felt drawn to them.

Patriotism is just an idea, so is capitalism or communism. But ideas can make men forget their own interests. And