Home > Author > Lee Min-jin
1 " His Presbyterian minster father had believed in a divine design, and Mozasu believed that life was like this game where the player could adjust the dials yet also expect the uncertainty of factors he couldn't control. He understood why his customers wanted to play something that looked fixed but which also left room for randomness and hope. "
― Lee Min-jin , Pachinko
2 " Yes, of course. If you love anyone, you cannot help but share his suffering. If we love our Lord, not just admire him or fear him or want things from him, we must recognize his feelings; he must be in anguish over our sins. We must understand this anguish. The Lord suffers with us. He suffers like us. It is a consolation to know this. To know that we are not in fact alone in our suffering. "
3 " There's no such thing as a benevolent leader. ... Those communists don't care about you. They don't care about anybody. "
4 " It was not Hansu that she missed, or even Isak. What she was seeing again in her dreams was her youth, her beginning, and her wishes--so this is how she became a woman. "
5 " Learning was like playing "
6 " Noa stared at her. 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. 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 just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes. But that wasn't possible. It would never be possible with her. "
7 " 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. "
8 " [...] I talk to the dead although I don't believe in ghosts. But it makes me feel good to speak with them. Maybe that is what God is. A good God wouldn't have let my babies die. I can't believe in that. My babies did nothing wrong." "I agree. They did nothing wrong." He looked at her thoughtfully."But a 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. "
9 " (...) mas um Deus que fizesse tudo que julgamos correto e bom não seria o criador do universo. Seria nossa marionete. Não seria Deus. "
10 " Viver todos os dias na presença daqueles que se recusam a reconhecer sua humanidade exige muita coragem. "
11 " They do not hire Koreans or Chinese, but that will not matter to you since you are Japanese.” Bingo nodded several times. “Soo desu,” Noa agreed. (Lee 334) "
12 " They do not hire Koreans or Chinese, but that will not matter to you since you are Japanese.' Bingo nodded several times. 'Soo desu,' Noa agreed (Lee 334). "
13 " Ted Kim was sadistically illustrating that she'd only gone to Princeton, she was not of Princeton. "
― Lee Min-jin
14 " 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. 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. "
15 " There are a lot of troubled young women in this world. We can't save them all. "
16 " The pinball business was dirty, they said; pachinko gave off a strong odor of poverty and criminality "
17 " Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage. "
18 " 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. "
19 " Learn everything. Fill your mind with knowledge—it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you.” Hansu never told him to study, but rather to learn, and it occurred to Noa that there was a marked difference. Learning was like playing, not labor. "
20 " History has failed us, but no matter. "
