Kim Un-Su > Quotes

“Black tea is steeped in imperialism. That's what gives it its flavor. Anything this flavorful has to be hiding an incredible amount of carnage.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Reseng was shocked at how treacherous life was. It didn't matter how high you rose, how invincible your body was, or how firmly you clung to greatness, because all of it could vanish with a tiny, split-second mistake.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“But just as a vaccine company facing bankruptcy will ultimately survive not by making the world's greatest vaccine but, rather, the world's worst virus, so, too, did bodyguard and security firms need the world's most evil terrorists in order to prosper, not the greatest security experts. That was capitalism, Hanja understood how the world could curl around and bite its own tail like the uroboros serpent. And he knew how to translate that into business and extract the maximum revenue. There was no better business model than owning both the virus and the vaccine. With one hand you parceled out fear and instability, and with the other you guaranteed safety and peace. A business like that would never go under.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Any life not spent asking yourself what you truly loved was a cowardly one.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“In my opinion, a man ought to be able to choose a death that gives his life a dignified ending.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“That is to say, cats have no masters. They only recognize friends and subordinates.”
― Un-su Kim, The Cabinet

“In the end, none of us can leave the place we know best, no matter how dirty and disgusting it is. We go back to our own filthy origins because it’s a filth we know. Putting up with that filth is easier than facing the fear of being tossed into the wider world, and the loneliness that is as deep and wide as that fear.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Like all canned food, love has an expiration date, a price tag, and a warning label. In order to love, you need to check the price tag to see if you have enough money in your wallet, observe the warnings given in fine print, and finish matters before the expiration date. Only then is it a smooth process for everyone.”
― Un-su Kim, The Cabinet

“The oldest human skull in existence has a hole in it from a spear. Prostitution is a much older profession than farming. The first son in the Bible was also a murderer. For thousands of years, human achievements were only possible through war—including civilization, art, religion, and even peace. Do you know what that means? About the human race? It means that from the very beginning human beings have been plotting to kill one another in order to live.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“The most dangerous adversary was a pazzo, a madman. A person who thought they had nothing to lose, who wanted nothing from others and asked nothing of him- or herself, who behaved in ways that defied common sense, who quietly followed her or his own strange principles and stubborn convictions, which were both inconceivable and unbelievable.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Whoever we are, we all have to fight our own battles for happiness.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“People think villains like me are going to hell. But that’s not true. Villains are already in hell. Living every moment in darkness without so much as a single ray of light in your heart, that’s hell. Shivering in terror, wondering when you’ll become a target when the assassins will appear. True hell is living in a constant state of fear without even knowing that you’re in hell.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“While she studied, he lay down and read Demons by Dostoyevsky. It was a big book, and a boring one. ’Is that fun to read?” she asked. “The characters have really long names. For instance, the main character’s mother is Varvara Petrovna Stavrogina, and his tutor is Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky. Each time a new person appears, it takes well over a line just to say their name. So, no, it’s not that fun. Not with this many names to remember.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Reading books will doom you to a life of fear and shame.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“You might not think of beer as a breakfast drink, but in fact it’s perfect. If knocking back a can of beer after a hard day’s work makes you feel refreshed, rewarded, and relaxed, then a can of beer in the morning is about feeling melancholic, fuzzy-headed, improper, and refusing to act like a responsible adult just because the sun’s come up.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Everything people say about whales is a lie. Because everything they say comes from a book. But whales don't live in books, they live in the ocean.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“They say the older you get, the more you're supposed to keep your purse strings open and your mouth shut.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“Home is such a funny word. We make the decission to live somewhere and then it's called 'home'. We eat there, work there, get married there, buy a house there. [..] I've been on a long journey. I don't think 'home' is that important. To really know yourself, you sometimes have to become nomad and forget about home.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“He believed that people should emulate whales. He said that people had grown as small and crafty as rats , and that the days of taking slow, huge, beautiful strides had vanished, The age of giants was over.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“That's life. Not much to it. Just one big stinking, filthy squalid mess. But once you get a taste of it - ah! Then it's not so bad. Sometimes it's even delicious.”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“But when you think about it there’s no time in our lives we haven’t been able to endure. If there was such a time, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“What does that even mean? Is it that the capitalist system, which humans invented two hundred years ago, is now growing into an uncontrollable beast that will devour human society? I'm not sure if anyone knows.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“Death is when the balance in your bank account of time reaches zero. You’ve either used up all your time, or someone has taken it from you. That’s all it is. You simply have no money to revive your bankrupt life.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“But we can’t accept that people can have different lifestyles than our own. We can’t understand that they created that order, despite its apparent absurdity and foolishness, because it was the only way they could make it in this world.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“ثمة ثقب من صُنع رمح في أقدم جمجمة بشرية في الوجود. الدعارة مِهنَةٌ أقدم بكثير من الزراعة. الابن الاول في الكتاب المقدَّس كان قاتلًا أيضًا. لآلاف السنين، كانت الإنجازات البشرية مُمكِنَة فقط من خلال الحروب- بما في ذلك الحضارة، والفن، والدين، وحتى السلام. هل تعرف ماذا يعني هذا بشأن الجنس البشري؟ هذا يعني أنه منذ بدء الخليقة، كان البشر يُخطِّطون لِقَتل بعضهم البعض من أجل البقاء. إمَّا بقتل خصومهم، أو بالاستعانة بقاتلٍ ليقوم بذلك عِوَضًا عنهم. هذه هي الطريقة التي يعيش بها البشر. تحمَّلَت البشرية دائمًا هذه الاستماتة الذاتية؛ هذا الموت الخلوي المبرمج. إنها الحقيقة الأصدق لعالمنا. هكذا بدأنا، وهذه هي الطريقة التي عشنا بها كل هذا الوقت. من المحتمل أن تكون هذه هي الطريقة التي سنعيش بها دائمًا حتى النهاية. لأنه لا أحد يعرف كيف يُوقف تلك الحلقة بعدُ. وهكذا، لا بد أن ينتهي الأمر بأحدهم بأن يلعب دور القَوَّاد أو المومس أو القاتل المأجور. ومن المضحك أن هذا ما يجب أن يحدث للإبقاء على عجلة الحياة دائرة".”
― Un-su Kim, The Plotters

“There is no moral to the story. We always look for the moral of a story or some nice adage, but morals and adages never changed anyone’s life. That there is no moral of the story – that’s the moral of the story.”
― Kim Un-Su, The Cabinet

“People always end up resembling that which they hate the most.”
― Kim Un-su, The Plotters

“You mean to say, all I need to do is sleep when it’s dark out…?”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“Conversely, primitive humans were much more spiritual beings. They worked when the sun was out, and they dreamed and rested once it set. In other words, in order to live properly, you have to follow divine providence and live half your life working, and the other half dreaming.”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet

“A future society in which humans and objects resemble each other - what does that mean? Does it mean that in the twenty-second century, tables, vases, and wine glasses will love, cry, and feel loneliness like humans? Or does it mean that in the twenty-second century, people will live empty lives like vases and tables, unable to feel love, pain or loneliness?”
― Kim Un-su, The Cabinet