Quotes About Perception

She would always believe that he was someone else, that he wasn't himself but some fanciful idea of a foreign person; she would always feel like she was someone special because she had condescended to be with someone everyone else hated. His presence would prove to the world that she was a good person, an educated person, a liberal person.

he wanted to spare her the cruelty of what he had learned, because 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.

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.

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.

Too pretty. That's her problem.

It was as if a warm room had gotten cooler, but it was still the same room.

I thought that no matter how many hills and brooks you crossed, the whole world was Korea and everyone in it was Korean.

Yumi felt that her three elder half sisters were as sexually indiscriminate and common as barn animals.

Once, when Solomon asked her what California was, she had replied, 'Heaven.

Leah looked perpetually frightened in the streets, and both she and Joseph were treated like idiots by their customers, who cared little that the hardworking pair were fluent and literate in another language.

It's dangerous to think that everything is a sign from God. Perhaps God is always talking to us, but we don't know how to listen,

It wasn't that a white person couldn't comprehend what it was like to be in her skin, but Jay, in his unyielding American optimism, refused to see that she came from a culture where good intentions and clear talk wouldn't cover all wounds. It didn't work that way with her parents, anyway. They were brokenhearted Koreans—that wasn't Jay's fault, but how was he supposed to understand their kind of anguish?

If Risa wrote even an ordinary description on an invoice, Noa would pause to read it again, not because of what it said, but because he could detect that there was a kind of dancing spirit in the hand that wrote such elegant letters.

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.

I thought that no matter how many hills and brooks you crossed, the whole world was Korea and everyone in it was Korean. —Park Wan-suh

And one bad Christian hurts tens of thousands of Christians everywhere, especially in a nation of unbelievers.

You and I. It cannot be.' 'Why?' 'Because it cannot.' There was nothing else he could think of, and he wanted to spare her the cruelty of what he had learned, because 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.

There was nothing else he could think of, and he wanted to spare her the cruelty of what he had learned, because 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

The gentle eyes beneath the jutting cheekbones and scaly skin were the same.

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.

He had visited South Korea with his father several times, and everyone there always treated them like they were Japanese. It was no homecoming;

In a way, Solomon was Japanese, too, even if the Japanese didn't think so. Phoebe couldn't see this. There was more to being something than just blood.

If this is madness," I said to myself, breathing his atmosphere exquisite almost to sanctification, "madness is something very beautiful.

I once heard somebody express surprise that instead of following it onward one should not take a cut across Time to secure a moment which, stretching out in line with oneself, would last indefinitely.