Young-ha Kim > Quotes

“Sometimes fiction is more easily understood than true events. Reality is often pathetic.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“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

“There are only two ways to be a god: through creation or murder.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“People who don’t know how to summarize have no dignity. Neither do people who needlessly drag on their messy lives. They who don’t know the beauty of simplification, of pruning away the unnecessary, die without ever comprehending the true meaning of life.”
― 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

“I always take a close look at those who lose themselves in self portraits. They are solitary souls, prone to introspection, who have really grappled with their existence.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“And still everything’s the same, even though I did my best to get as far away as I could.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“People unconsciously want to reveal their inner urges.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“Life is a continuous cycle of once-terrifying things becoming normal.”
― Young-ha Kim, Your Republic Is Calling You

“People want to understand evil. A pointless desire. Evil is like a rainbow. It retreats at the same pace as your approach. Evil is evil because you can't understand it.”
― Young-Ha Kim, Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories

“A revolution cannot progress without the fuel of terror. With time that relationship inverts: the revolution presses forward for the sake of terror. Like an artist, the man creating terror should be detached, cold-blooded. He must keep in mind that the energy of the terror he releases can consume him.”
― Young-ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“It’s funny, the truth makes people uncomfortable, but a lie gets people excited. Isn’t that right?”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“I always take a close look at those who lose themselves in self-portraits. They are solitary souls, prone to introspection, who have really grappled with their existence. And they know such introspection, though painful, is secretly exhilarating. And if someone asks me the kind of question I myself might pose, I can tell he's lonely.”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have The Right To Destroy Myself

“La muerte se ha transformado en una especie de pornografía que se transmite en vivo por televisión. La masacre que en el pasado se difundía en forma de rumor, ahora se emite rápida y detalladamente vía satélite. Nadie se estremece viendo pornografía.”
― Kim Young-ha

“But no matter how you die, the world always stays the same.”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

“Then again, there are at least a few things in life you can't learn from others.”
― Young-Ha Kim, Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories

“The present is re-created to immortalize memories. It's pathetic, but that's human tendency now.”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

“Experts only look like experts to me when they talk about things I know nothing about.”
― Kim Young-ha, Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories

“An artist's passion shouldn't create passion. An artist's supreme virtue is to be detached and cold.”
― Young-Ha Kim, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

“Art is about going a little nuts and justifying the next sentence.”
― Young-Ha Kim

“There isn’t much I do well. I excel at only one thing, but it’s the kind I can’t brag about. Think of the countless people who end up in the grave proud of something they can never share with others.”
― Young-Ha Kim, Diary of a Murderer: And Other Stories

“I always thought people got upset when someone betrayed them because they were angry at being lied to, at having the wool pulled over their eyes. But now I see it isn't true. Betrayal dismantles your confidence. That's why it's so upsetting. Now I can't believe in anything. I can't tell if I enjoyed my life until now, or if I'm doing the right thing, or what. How can someone this stupid do anything well? How can I do anything well in the future? I'm probably just going to get used by everyone. Don't you think so?”
― Young-Ha Kim, Your Republic Is Calling You

“It was the kind of situation that rendered Communists helpless. Suicide meant you left the socialist paradise of your own free will, for no good reason.”
― Kim Young-ha, Your Republic Is Calling You

“I used to think I could change the world, but now I realise that I can't even control my urge to eat something sweet.”
― Young-Ha Kim, Your Republic Is Calling You

“「韓國的國家保安法裡知情不報是有罪的，你知道嗎？」
他點點頭。
「看到像你這樣的人，卻什麼也沒做的話，也構成犯罪事實，對吧？」
「對。」
「我以前覺得，這實在是非常獨特的罪行，不是做了什麼，而是沒做什麼。我一直覺得，遭遇這種事情的人一定覺得很荒唐。
「對不起。」
「我要收回剛才我所說的，無知對於人類毫無助益這句話。知道本身就已經構成犯罪了，我連這個都不知道，還在這裡大放厥詞。」”
― Young-ha Kim, Your Republic Is Calling You

“The tedium exuded by these [indie] movie buffs intimidated Ki-yong. Everything that elicited the disinterested comment "This is so lame" was unknown, or at least new, to him. He devoted energy and time figuring out which parts were boring to others. It was the life of a transplant, having to give his all just to understand the mundane.”
― Kim Young-ha, Your Republic Is Calling You

“For Ki-young, who had just graduated from the Operations Class of Kim Jong Il University of Political and Military Science, commonly called Liaison Office 130, the man's defeatist attitude was surprising. How could he live in enemy territory without being alert? How could he let go of his animosity toward the South, where the great enemy Chun Doo Swan massacred thousands of people in Kwangju in broad daylight? Later, he realized the South specialized in lifelessness and defeatism. Indiscriminate weariness was prevalent. Ki-yong knew what ennui was, but this was the first time he personally observed it. At home, it was an abstract idea batted about when criticizing capitalism. Of course, there was ennui back home, too. But in a socialist society it was closer to boredom. And it was really a matter of inadequate motivation; a bit of stimulation could change the feeling of boredom. But the prototypical capitalist ennui Ki-yong encountered for the first time in the South was heavy and voluminous. Like poisonous gas, it suffocated and suppressed life. Mere exposure to it prompted the growth of fear. Sometimes you encountered people who inspired in you an immediate primal caution, something that made you say, I don't want to live like that. That civil servant in the office had this effect on Ki-yong. He represented depression, emptiness, cynicism.”
― Kim Young-ha, Your Republic Is Calling You

“No es el mal lo que uno debe temer, es el tiempo. Nadie puede vencer al tiempo ni nada se puede hacer contra él.”
― Young-Ha Kim

“聽說孩子在動物園裡對猴子丟石頭，在寵物店用拳頭拍打展示櫥窗，嚇唬小狗的原因，事實上是想和牠們對話。因為沒有反應，孩子才用他們自己的方式，和這些動物交流。”
― Young-ha Kim, Your Republic Is Calling You

“The snow, the first of which fell in October, kept the family inside. But as soon as it started to melt, all the farmers would rush out of their shingled houses and set fire to the mountain greenery to clear the land, like they were taking part in a festival. The crackling flames would shimmer between the valleys. But nowadays no one can hold such a festival. You can't burn up the land just because the dull winter has passed Now people resort to setting themselves on fire.”
― Young-Ha Kim