Almond Quotes

“Whenever life pulled brutal pranks on him, Gon would think that life was like having your mom hold your hands one moment, warm and safe, then suddenly drop them with no explanation. No matter how hard he tried to grab hold, he was always abandoned in the end.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“To me, that’s like being asked, Why do you live? Do you live for any purpose? Let’s be honest, we just live because we’re alive.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Does growing mean changing?"
"Probably. For better or for worse," he replied.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“To me, that's like being asked, Why do you live? Do you live for any purpose? Let's be honest, we just live because we're alive. When things are great we're happy, and when things aren't, we cry. Same with running. I'll be happy when I win, I'll be sad when I don't. When I feel I haven't got it, I'll blame myself or regret starting this in the first place. But then I'll still run. Just because! Like living life. That's all!”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Books and the aroma of coffee. They were the perfect combination”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Everyone thinks "ordinary" is easy and all, but how many of them would actually fit into the so-called smooth road the word implied? It sure was a lot harder for me, someone who was not born ordinary. That didn't mean I was extraordinary. I was just a strange boy wandering around somewhere in between. So I decided to give it a try. To become ordinary.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“If you think about it that way, then it would’ve been better if Gon had never been born. Because, more than anything, he wouldn’t have had to feel so much pain and loss. But everything loses its meaning if you think that way. Only purpose remains. Barren.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“was just unlucky. Luck plays a huge part in all the unfairness of the world. Even more than you’d expect.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Anything will lose its meaning if you repeat it often enough," she said. "At first you feel you are getting the hang of it, but then as time goes by, you feel like the meaning's changing and becoming tarnished. Then, finally, it gets lost. Completely fades to white.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Suddenly, the wind changed course. Dora’s hair slowly changed direction too, whipping over to the opposite side. The breeze carried her scent to my nose. It was a scent I hadn’t smelled before. It smelled like fallen leaves, or the first buds in spring. The kind of smell that evoked contrary images all at once. I”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Granny, why do people call me weird?”
“Maybe it’s because you’re special. People just can’t stand it when something is different.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“What does it mean to be like others? When everyone is different, who should I follow? What would Mom say?”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Yes. I know. That Gon is a good kid. But if someone asked me to talk about him in more detail, I'd only be able to say that he beat me and hurt me, he ripped apart a butterfly, he set his face against the teachers, and threw things at my classmates. That's how language is. It is as hard as proving that Leesu and Gon are the same person. So, I simply said, "I just know he is.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“From now on this is an entirely different story. Completely new and unpredictable.
I do not know how this story will unfold. As I said, neither you nor I nor anyone can ever know whether a story is happy or tragic. It may be impossible to categorize a story so neatly in the first place. Life takes on various flavors as it flows.
I've decided to confront it. Confront whatever life throws at me, as I always have. And however much I can feel, nothing more, nothing less.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Well. Only your heart knows,” he said, still smiling. “You mean my brain, not my heart. We do whatever the brain tells us to do.” “Technically, yes, but we still say it’s from our heart.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Old books seem all right, though. They have a richer scent that’s more alive. Like how autumn leaves smell.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Writing would mean she'd have to sell her own life, and she didn't have the confidence to do that. Basically, she didn't have the guts to be a writer.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“People sometimes say how cool it'd be to be fearless, but they don't know what they're talking about. Fear is an instinctive defense mechanism necessary for survival. Not knowing fear doesn't mean that you're brave; it means you're stupid enough to stay standing on the road when a car is charging toward you.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Before I had time to think, her lips brushed against my lips. They felt like a cushion. Her soft, moist lips slowly pressed into mine. And just like that, we breathed three times. Our chests moved up and down, and up and down, and up and down. Then we lowered our heads at the same time. Our lips parted as our foreheads touched.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“After leaving for love, she didn’t want to come back bringing all her misfortune into the house. And so seven years passed. During those years, Mom tried to get by and held out until she realized all this enduring was no use. Until the very brink of a breakdown. Until she finally realized she couldn’t bear it—bear me—on her own anymore.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“You're basically a blank canvas. Better to fill it up with good things rather than bad things.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“lives I’d never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn’t experienced could all be found in those volumes.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“She always called me a monster. To her, that wasn’t a bad thing.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Luck plays a huge part in all the unfairness of the world. Even more than you’d expect.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Humans are designed to move on and keep on living, after all.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“I felt my body had outpaced my mind, and that it was as unnecessary and bothersome as a long overcoat in summer. I wanted so much to take it off. If only I could.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Unfortunately, I was no genius.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“Books took me to places I could never go otherwise. They shared the confessions of people I'd never witnessed. The emotions I could never feel, and the events I hadn't experienced could all be found in those volumes.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“nail on the wall must’ve pricked my leg, because it was bleeding. Gon saw and started weeping like a child. Yes, this was who he was. The kind of person who tears up at a drop of blood, who feels pain for others’ pain.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond

“His shoulders, which had been hunched and still, gradually sank. His face turned wrinkly like a deflated balloon. His head slowly hanging low, his knees buckled. His body was shaking, his head sunk down against his chest. There was no sound, but I knew he was crying. I looked down at him, saying nothing. I felt like I'd become uselessly taller.”
― Won-pyung Sohn, Almond