Quotes About Struggle

For people like us, home doesn't exist.

You can't fix Korea. Not even a hundred of you or a hundred of me can fix Korea. The Japs are out and now Russia, China, and America are fighting over our shitty little country.

Life is full of things he cannot control so he must adapt. My boy has to survive.

There's nothing fucking worse than knowing that you're just like everybody else. What a messed-up, lousy existence.

Trying to save money while paying medical bills was like pouring oil into a broken jar.

She couldn't say this to her son, however, because Noa was someone who had studied, labored, and tried to lift himself out of their street, and he thought all the men who hadn't done so weren't very bright, either. He would not understand. Her son could not feel compassion for those who did not try.

A woman's lot is to suffer,

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.

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.

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.

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.

Seeds, blood. How could you fight such hopeless ideas?

Mozasu knew he was becoming one of the bad Koreans. Police officers often arrested Koreans for stealing or home brewing. Every week, someone on his street got in trouble with the police.

Man, life's going to keep pushing you around, but you have to keep playing.

was still hard for a Korean to become a Japanese citizen, and there were many who considered such a thing shameful—for a Korean to try to become a citizen of its former oppressor.

A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life—but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard.

Sunja and Yangjin were able to cook the sweets and handle the customers without him. It was never that busy then. It was a late fall afternoon, when business was exceedingly slow and the market women were busy talking with each other since there were so few customers;

For me, the pachinko business and the game itself serve as metaphors for the history of Koreans in Japan—a people caught in seemingly random global conflicts—as they win, lose, and struggle for their place and for their lives.

bad and went to work! Maybe there's

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

God controls all things, but we don't understand his reasons. Sometimes, I don't like his actions, either. It's frustrating".

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?

The big secret that he kept from his mother, aunt, and even his beloved uncle was that Noa did not believe in God anymore. God had allowed his gentle, kindhearted father to go to jail even though he had done nothing wrong. For two years, God had not answered Noa's prayers, though his father had promised him that God listens very carefully to the prayers of children.

Her mother had shrunk.