Monika Kim > Quotes

“By the time you’re done with him, he’ll be begging for mercy. Who is he if he can’t control you? Is he even a man anymore? It will seem like a relief when you give him a hand, even if that hand is holding a blade. And when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: He was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“How do I explain to her that the home I miss isn’t a place? It’s a time when my life made sense. When things made sense.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“I’ve always been jealous of the kids who have never had to deal with this crushing pressure. They have no idea how good they have it, how lucky they are. Often, I find myself wondering: What is it like to live freely, to live a life untethered, without having to be responsible for everyone around you?”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Yeah, sorry, I ate a homeless guy’s eyeball last night, and I’m really struggling with it, so. . . .”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“As later experiences would confirm, to deal with a man like that, a man like George, you have to pull the rug out from under him. Not all at once, of course; a small tug here, another one there. You don’t back down when he tries to wield his power. Instead, you trip him up by slipping him little lies. Correct him whenever you can. Confuse him. Make him feel foolish. Men like him hate being wrong, hate being embarrassed, hate not being in control. Men like him don’t know what to do when that happens, and they resort to childish displays of anger, temper tantrums, sulking. In spite of this, he won’t be able to do a single thing about it because in the end he’s the one who is weak. The only power he has is the power you are willing to give him, and you’ve given him nothing. Not a scrap.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“I know that plant is pretty, but poison is everywhere, even in the places where you least expect it.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“We girls are taught from an early age that we are demonstrably inferior to our male counterparts. We are smaller, weaker, stupider. When we succeed, it’s only because men allow us to. And as Asian women, we are foreign and especially powerless, with our supposedly porcelain skin, delicate physiques, “slanted pussies,” and quiet, submissive natures.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“In the end, everyone leaves.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“What is it like to live freely, to live a life untethered, without having to be responsible for everyone around you?”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“There was a delicate, tenuous thread tying us together. If I moved, would it break?”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Her tears dripped onto my hands, onto the carpet; I watched them fall and had the sudden realization that our roles had reversed. Somehow, I had become the mother and she the daughter.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“George’s power doesn’t come only from the fact that he has a penis. It comes from his whiteness. For us, that kind of certainty and self-assuredness is an impossibility.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“The only power he has is the power you are willing to give him, and you’ve given him nothing. Not a scrap. By the time you’re done with him, he’ll be begging for mercy. Who is he if he can’t control you? Is he even a man anymore?”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“It must be nice to be so assured of your safety that you don’t have to worry about being alone at night or getting in the wrong car.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Hyukjoon's severed member lay on the floor. Dahye picked it up. It was nearly weightless, she could hardly believe that this pitiful thing was a source of Hyukjoon's power and what had determined his worth in the world. It had been so easy taking it from him.”
― Monika Kim, Molka

“I’m certain that blue eyes would taste amazing, much better than brown ones.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“And when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: He was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“We girls are taught from an early age that we are demonstrably inferior to our male counterparts.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“She’s sleeping on her side, huddled over in the corner, even though the rest of the bed is empty. Perhaps it’s because she’s used to making herself small. Perhaps it’s because she’s spent a lifetime making herself inconspicuous for men like my father and George.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Like her sister, Dahye had done everything in her power to make herself a woman of good standing. She had worked hard to get a degree from a good school. She had a good job, she was careful not to get too drunk when she went out and she didn't sleep around. ...in the end, none of it had mattered, she had done everything a supposedly respectable woman did, and she still had ended up the whore.”
― Monika Kim, Molka

“The other night, she insisted that the moon landing had been faked. When Ji-hyun and I started arguing with her, she seemed almost happy, even when it resulted in an almost hour-long quarrel that left Ji-hyun in tears.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“You don’t back down when he tries to wield his power. Instead, you trip him up by slipping him little lies. Correct him whenever you can. Confuse him. Make him feel foolish. Men like him hate being wrong, hate being embarrassed, hate not being in control. Men like him don’t know what to do when that happens, and they resort to childish displays of anger, temper tantrums, sulking. In spite of this, he won’t be able to do a single thing about it because in the end he’s the one who is weak. The only power he has is the power you are willing to give him, and you’ve given him nothing. Not a scrap.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“There are some things that you can never truly escape. Not really. Maybe that’s why, even now, she’s stuck in the past, long after everyone else has moved on.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Then I slowly, methodically dig his eyes out from his head with the knife. I put each eyeball in my mouth and swallow it whole, optic nerves sliding down my throat like spaghetti noodles—”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: He was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“I press my tongue against the white of his sclera. It’s salty. His tears. His sweat. I can taste it all.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“He didn't see her as a threat. He thought she was clueless, stupid, easy to manipulate. He thought she believed every lie that had spilled from his mouth. All bitches have a price.”
― Monika Kim, Molka

“Men like George aren’t like us. Not like me, not like Ji-hyun. Not even my father, another man, can compare because George’s power doesn’t come only from the fact that he has a penis.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“do a single thing about it because in the end he’s the one who is weak. The only power he has is the power you are willing to give him, and you’ve given him nothing. Not a scrap. By the time you’re done with him, he’ll be begging for mercy. Who is he if he can’t control you? Is he even a man anymore? It will seem like a relief when you give him a hand, even if that hand is holding a blade. And when you take everything from him, you can say what these men say about us: He was asking for it. He was begging for it. He must have wanted it, since he didn’t fight back.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part

“For the first time, I notice that his eyes are blue: a pale, icy blue that reminds me of the Niagara Falls, where my father took us on vacation six years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t notice them before.”
― Monika Kim, The Eyes Are the Best Part