“I lived in countries that had no democracy... so I don't find myself in the same luxury as you do. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don't know what it is not to have freedom.”
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“In the real world, equal respect for all cultures doesn't translate into a rich mosaic of colorful and proud peoples interacting peacefully while maintaining a delightful diversity of food and craftwork. It translates into closed pockets of oppression, ignorance, and abuse.”
― Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations
― Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
― The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
― The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“As he continued to talk to me, I realized one of the fundamental points about Islamism that so many people fail to understand. The way Osman was speaking wasn’t in the orthodox, religious way of the imam with a stick; he was talking about politics, about events that were happening now. That’s crucial to understanding what Islamism is all about: it isn’t a religious movement with political consequences, it is a political movement with religious consequences.”
― Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism
― Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism
“You are one of the rare people who can separate your observation from your preconception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect.”
― East of Eden
― East of Eden
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This is a book club for discussing Korea-related books. Everyone is welcome.
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Mars’s 2025 Year in Books
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