Juhea Kim > Quotes

“Life is only bearable because time makes you forget everything. But life is worthwhile because love makes you remember everything.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Everywhere around them, life was happening without their knowing, and their lives were also happening in the presence of all else. All existences were touching lightly as air and leaving invisible fingerprints.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“There are just two things in the world that give you true confidence. One is overcoming difficulties on your own, and the other is being deeply loved. If you experience both, then you will be confident for the rest of your life.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Everyone dreams, but only some people are dreamers. The non-dreamers, by far more numerous, are those who see the world as it is. Then there are the few dreamers, who see the world as they are. The moon, the river, the train station, the sound of rain, and even something as mundane as porridge become something else with many layers. The world feels like an oil painting rather than a photograph, and the dreamers are forever seeing hidden colors where others just see the top shade. The nondreamers look through glasses, and the dreamers through a prism”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Now that I’m older I know that life is not about what keeps you safe, but what you keep safe, and that’s what matters the most.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Perhaps this was why her mother had warned against the corruptive power of education-even without any man in sight, language itself seduced her. She fluttered with the knowledge that certain words in a certain order could rearrange her on the inside, like moving furniture. Words changed and remade her constantly, and no one else could even sense a difference.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“She fluttered with the knowledge that certain words in a certain order could rearrange her on the inside, like moving furniture. Words changed and remade her constantly, and no one else could even sense a difference.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Death was such a small price to pay for life.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“No matter how great a work of art is, it comes to an end. In fact, in order to be great, it must end. But life never comes to an end. When one thread is knotted, even when another is broken, it continues weaving together to an everlasting music, so that the whole of it can only be seen from the height of infinity.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds

“If only I could I would pluck off the stars from the night sky and toss them all into her garden and that wouldn't even be enough.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“But wild beasts had never frightened her-it was the humans who terrified her with their savagery.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“It's an uncanny thing -- inyeon. If it's not meant to be, you can't hold on to people no matter how hard you try. Some people you love deeply will turn into a stranger in an instant, if the inyeon has run its course. And sometimes people will be attached to you forever despite all likelihood.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Words changed and remade her constantly, and no one else could even sense a difference.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“He never blamed his circumstances or thought regretfully about the past. He was like an empty vessel, but in the best way: it was true he didn't hold a lot of knowledge, but his mind was free to flow in whatever direction, and he didn't nurture pain. Whatever he did keep permanently, Jade was certain that he would protect firmly in the bottom of his jangdok pot. He might never fling himself far from where he'd landed, Jade thought, but he would nonetheless be happy for the simple reason that he refused to be caged.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“It was achingly beautiful how new the world was each day, and he only wished that he could have realized it a little earlier.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“The sun rose in the new Republic just as he was locked in his third-story cell. The window was not so high, and he could see the tiled roofs and bare-branched trees shimmering in the orange light, and the birds singing and gliding across the sky. This, the everlasting stillness of morning, brought him unbearable joy and sorrow. Tears flowed down his cheeks raked by time. Death was such a small price to pay for life.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Only time has shown me the truth: we can choose the minor friends and the minor lovers, but we don’t have any choice in the matter of the people we truly love.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds

“On August 6, the whole world would change with the discovery that man can ignite the fire of the sun upon the surface of the earth.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“. . .believed in inyeon -- human thread -- and that connections and encounters between people were preordained. The best and most important inyeon were between husband and wife, and parent and child. Those bonds do not break even beyond the pale. . . .”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Russia—not her politics, but her language, woodlands and meadows, rivers and lakes, centuries-old capitals, her poetry, her prayers, Tolstoy, Gogol, Bulgakov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Akhmatova, Mayakovsky, Pasternak, the White Nights, summers and winters, families, dachas, and above everything else, her ballet—birthed us and gave us a reason for life. I loved this land, and my place in it was at the theater. And if some things weren’t as they should be, that was also the case in every other country.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds

“If you really love someone you say goodbye without ever leaving.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“The air in Seoul smells of rain, cooking oil, garbage, pine trees, persimmon, perfume, red bean paste, hot metal, and snow. It changes by the season and the time of day and the neighborhood.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WE truly love? I don’t think it’s people we like, but the ones we keep thinking about.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds

“You know it's not true that men say "I love you," to deceive. Most people can't outright lie about it. If you don't love someone, it's very difficult to say I love you. And if you do love someone, it's just as painful to remain silent.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds

“If he had to describe how she looked, he would have said: like a song your mother used to sing. Or an unopened letter from someone you loved a long time ago, found in the back of a drawer. Or an old tree that suddenly comes to life on spring, it's black branches aflame with flowers, as if saying I, I, I.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“It's an uncanny thing -- inyeon. If it's not meant to be, you can't hold on to people no matter how hard you try. Some people you love deeply will turn into a stranger in an instant, if the inyeon has run its course. And sometimes people will be attached to you forever despite all likelihood.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Now that I'm older I know that life is not about what keeps you safe, but what you keep safe, and that's what matters the most.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“It was utterly senseless, this world--and to act as though it did make sense was the greatest crime.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“Everything you write henceforth under your name has to be done in honesty and good faith. That’s what it means to have a good name—not who your family is or how rich or famous you are.”
― Juhea Kim, Beasts of a Little Land

“All the beauty and tragedy of life can be found in the space between what could have been and what turns out to be.”
― Juhea Kim, City of Night Birds