Korean Quotes

“Even in the far future,
never forget the you of right now
Wherever you are right now,
you’re just taking a break”
― BTS

“To you who eat a lot of rice because you’re lonely,
To you who sleep a lot because you’re bored,
To you who cry a lot because you are sad, I write this down.

Chew on your feelings that are cornerned like you would chew on rice.
Anyway, life is something that you need to digest.”
― Chun Yang Hee

“Novels are food for the leftover hours of life, the in-between times, the moments of waiting.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“Why does nothing change, even when you set out for a faraway place?”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“We have to be tougher in this tough world.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Your life can be different, Young Ju. Study and be strong. In America, women have choices.”
― An Na, A Step from Heaven

“I think beyond the superficial accolades, at its core, fans stream and buy albums and merchs, because they want to show that they acknowledge the hard work of the artists and their staff. The stream count, album sales and awards are tangible proof that the idols’ music is good. That they are popular. That they are better.”
― Arushi Raj, Understand K-pop: Deconstructing the Obsession and Toxicity in K-pop Stan Culture

“But,” began the Zainichi North Korean man, “even if we know all that stuff, isn’t it pointless if the people discriminating against you don’t?”

“What matters is that we know,” I said. “Those ignorant haters who discriminate based on nationality and ethnicity are pathetic. We need to educate ourselves and make ourselves stronger and forgive them. Not that I’m anywhere near that yet.”
― Kazuki Kaneshiro, Go

“Every evening, they enjoyed the moonlit streams, and in the day they explored the valleys, searching for plum blossoms. When they happened upon a sheer cliff face they would compose poems and play the lute in the shade of the pine trees.”
― Kim Manjung, The Nine Cloud Dream

“Starting is not half the battle. The start is merely the start. When you begin thinking it’s too late, it’s already too late, so start immediately.”
― Park Myung Soo

“Nami Emo was also the greatest storybook reader in the world. Like my grandfather before her, she worked as a voice actress, doing voice-overs for documentaries and dubbing anime episodes, which Seong Young and I would watch over and over on VHS. At night, she'd read Korean Sailor Moon books to me and do all the voices. It didn't matter that she couldn't translate the chapters into English---her voice was elastic and could swing seamlessly from the cackle of an evil queen to the catchphrase of the resolute heroine, then quiver words of caution from a useless sidekick and resolve with a dashing prince's gallant coo.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“Every human being was the result of a million different factors mixing together - one of a million sperm arriving at the egg at exactly a certain time; even a millisecond off and another entirely different person would result. Good things and bad - every friendship and romance formed, every accident, every illness - resulted from the conspiracy of hundreds of little things, in and of themselves inconsequential.”
― Angie Kim, Miracle Creek

“Look north, he said, In the middle of that vast plain is a single lonely peak. In the light of the setting sun you can just make out the ruins of A-fang-kung, the palace of the great Ch'in Shih-huang, among the weeds and the high grass.
Look west. The wind is rustling the woods where the gray mountain mist hides Mou-ling, the tomb of Emperor Han Wu-ti.
In the east you can see the white wall reflecting the green hills where a red rooftop pierces the sky and the pale moon comes and goes. No one leans on the on the jade balustrades at Huang-ch'ing-kung where Emperor Hsuan Tsung frolicked with his ill-fated concubine Yang Kue-fei.
Those three emperors were for ten millennia the heroes of our history. Where are they now?
[Fenkl translation]”
― Kim Manjung, The Nine Cloud Dream

“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)”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“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).”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

“Squid Game, is a riveting TV program that deserves accolades of praise . It's a TV program that invites you, yourself in to play the games along with it.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“How many of us would jump at a chance to play Squid Game?
I'm thinking that the number of those willing to play would even surprise the producers of the TV program.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“H Mart is a supermarket chain that specializes in Asian food. The H stands for han ah reum, a Korean phrase that roughly translates to "one arm full of groceries." H Mart is where parachute kids flock to find the brand of instant noodles that reminds them of home. It's where Korean families buy rice cakes to make tteokguk, the beef and rice cake soup that brings in the New Year. It's the only place where you can find a giant vat of peeled garlic, because it's the only place that truly understands how much garlic you'll need for the kind of food your people eat. H Mart is freedom from the single-aisle "ethnic" section in regular grocery stores.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“It was July, and we'd ordered patbingsu to share to stave off the humidity. This rendition was far more elaborate than the homespun efforts of my childhood, its base a perfect soft powder of snow slathered in sweet red beans and garnished with pristinely cut strawberries, perfect squares of ripe mango, and little cushions of multicolored rice cakes. A fine web of condensed milk drizzled over the sides, and vanilla soft serve towered high on top.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“I haven't spoken to him since before that. I never understood how he could just drop me like that. Is it a Korean thing? I mean, what kind of person does that?”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“I wondered if anything would have turned out differently had a careless nurse switched the two of us in a hospital nursery, whether his family would be significantly changed, whether mine would have been, whether any of us Koreans, raised as we were, would sense the barest tinge of a loss or estrangement.”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“Lelia had great trouble accepting this stunning ignorance of mine...She didn't understand that there weren't moments in our language when the woman's name could have naturally come out.”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“I better tell you before, I know, but I know you don't like. So what I do?”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“The only noticeable thing was that he would come home much earlier than usual, maybe four in the afternoon instead of the usual eight or nine. He said he didn't want me coming home from school to an empty house, though he didn't actually spend any more time with me.”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“He didn't say anything and just helped me to my room...He gently patted my back and then left the house and drove off to one of his stores in the city.”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“I was to inherit them, the legacy unfurling before me this way: you worked from before sunrise to the dead of night. You were never unkind in your dealings, but then you were not generous. Your family was your life, though you rarely saw them. You kept close handsome sums of cash in small denominations. You were steadily cornering the market in self-pride. You drove a Chevy and then a Caddy and then a Benz. You never missed a mortgage payment or a day of church. You prayed furiously until you wept. You considered the only unseen forces to be those of capitalism and the love of Jesus Christ.”
― Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker

“Let's do snacks."
And snacks, we did. We consumed japchae, stir-fried sweet potato noodles with shredded veggies and beef, that were sweet and savory and wonderfully chewy. Ddukbokki, chewy cylinders of rice cake, soft and springy cakes of sweet ground fish, more veggies, and sweet and spicy gochujang sauce. Soondae, a sausage stuffed with noodles, barley, and pig blood, which I had to say gave me slight pause (and made my Jewish grandmother shriek with terror), but which had the most interesting mix of textures. We cleansed our palates with hobakjuk, a porridge made from glutinous rice and the sweetest steamed pumpkin I'd ever tasted, and finished up with hotteok, sweet, crunchy fried pancakes filled with cinnamon, honey, brown sugar, and peanuts.”
― Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate

“I have for you braised and fried chicken feet, served with buffalo sauce, a salad of cauliflower rubble and grated celery, and a blue cheese mascarpone cream."
Luke's face lit up as he saw the chicken feet, the exact opposite expressions of Lenore and Maz, who looked very much as if they were at an actual graveyard and had seen an actual claw shoot up from the grave. "It reminds me of dakbal," he breathed, and he sounded for a moment as if it were just the two of us sitting side by side in that Korean speakeasy, shoulder touching shoulder. Unconsciously, I took a step toward him. "My halmoni used to make dakbal as a snack when we visited her in Korea. She'd steam them first, then panfry them until they were charred, and then there was the secret sauce she made, all garlicky and gingery and tingling with gochugaru..."
As he trailed off, I could almost taste his grandmother's chicken feet. The chew of the meat after the crisp of the char. The caramelization of the sugars on the skin, and the nose-running spiciness of the sauce.
"I didn't know you were Korean," said Maz.
That broke the mood. I stepped back, clearing my throat.
Meanwhile, Lenore Smith was crunching away. "I was worried about eating these fried chicken feet right after that deep-fried noodle kugel, but this bracing, vinegary salad underneath really cuts through the fat and the richness," she said, swallowing. "I love the chicken feet, but I almost love this salad more. Is that crazy?"
"Yes," Luke said. "The chicken feet are delicious. Cooked so that they're tender and also crunchy on the outside, and that sauce is the perfect amount of spicy and vinegary.”
― Amanda Elliot, Sadie on a Plate

“의식은 우주다.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“Nous plongeons dans l'océan comme nos mères et nos grand-mères et nos arrières-grand-mères l'ont fait avant nous depuis des centaines d'années. Ce don est notre fierté, car nous ne dépendons de personne, ni de nos pères, ni de nos époux, ni de nos grands frères, ni même des soldats japonais pendant la guerre.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht