“
If you can't go back to your mother's womb, you'd better learn to be a good fighter.
”
”
Anchee Min (Red Azalea: A Memoir)
“
The sun doesn't just hang on one family's tree
”
”
Anchee Min (Empress Orchid (Empress Orchid, #1))
“
Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
For the heart, life is simple: it beats for as long as it can. Then it stops.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
I'm Min's fairy godmother, Charm Boy,' Liza said, frowning down at him. 'And if you don't give her a happily ever after, I'm going to come back and beat you to death with a snow globe.'
What happened to "bibbity bobbity boo"?' Cal asked Min.
That was Disney, honey,' Min said. 'It wasn't a documentary.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
History has failed us, but no matter.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Learn everything. Fill your mind with knowledge—it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you.” Hansu never told him to study, but rather to learn, and it occurred to Noa that there was a marked difference. Learning was like playing, not labor.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
No one is clean. Living makes you dirty.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be five mins. five hours. five days. five months. five years. a lifetime. five lifetimes. let it manifest itself the way it is meant to. it has an organic destiny. this way if it stays or if it leaves, you will be softer. from having been loved this authentically. souls come into. return. open. and sweep through your life for a myriad of reasons. let them be who. and what they are meant.
”
”
Nayyirah Waheed
“
If you can't fly, then run.
Today we will survive.
If you can't run, then walk.
Today we will survive.
If you can't walk, then crawl.
”
”
BTS
“
We cannot help but be interested in the stories of people that history pushes aside so thoughtlessly.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
a man must learn to forgive—to know what is important, that to live without forgiveness was a kind of death with breathing and movement.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Love myself, love yourself, peace.
”
”
Min Yoongi
“
Those who don’t have a dream, it’s okay, it’s okay if you don’t have a dream. You just have to be happy.
”
”
Min Yoongi
“
...a God that did everything we thought was right and good wouldn't be the creator of the universe. He would be our puppet.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
we were too young and immature to give up, you idiot
”
”
Min Yoongi
“
Patriotism is just an idea, so is capitalism or communism. But ideas can make men forget their own interests. And the guys in charge will exploit men who believe in ideas too much.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
There's nothing fucking worse than knowing that you're just like everybody else.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Your cat just got cat hair on me.” “It’s only fair,” Min said. “Your suit just got expensive suit lint on him.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
In the end they'll judge me anyway so whatever.
”
”
Min Yoongi
“
I'll never forget my first time with you' Min said as she edged the doughnut off her finger. 'The earth moved, and then my mother asked my father who he was going down on at lunch.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
What i'm trying to tell you," Min said, "is that im going to grow up to be one of those chubby old ladies. It's in my genes. Like self raising flour. i'm going to pouf."
"thats going to work out well for me," Cal said. "because i'm going to grow up to be one of those horny old men who chases chubby old ladies around the couch.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
A girl meets a boy, Ed, and everything changes, or so she says.
”
”
Daniel Handler (Why We Broke Up)
“
You are very brave, Noa. Much, much braver than me. Living every day in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
I could shove this swizzle stick through his heart, Min thought. She would'nt do it, of course. The stick was plastic and not nearly pointed enough on the end.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
There was more to being something than just blood.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Fill your mind with knowledge—it’s the only kind of power no one can take away from you.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
There was consolation: The people you loved, they were always there with you, she had learned. Sometimes, she could be in front of a train kiosk or the window of a bookstore, and she could feel Noa's small hand when he was a boy, and she would close her eyes and think of his sweet grassy smell and remember that he had always tried his best. At those moments, it was good to be alone to hold on to him.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
For women, shoes are the most important. Good shoes take you good places.
”
”
Seo Min Hyun
“
Noa had been a sensitive child who had believed that if he followed all the rules and was the best, then somehow, the hostile world would change its mind. His death may have been her fault for having allowed him to believe such cruel ideals.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
lack of will power leads to more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.
”
”
Anchee Min
“
I did for the fun of it
”
”
Amelia Earhart (20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship)
“
Twenty-six,” you said. “One for each day we’ve been together, Min.”Somebody oohed. Somebody shushed them.
“And I hope that someday I’ll do another something stupid and I’ll have to say it a million times because that’s how long it’ll be, together with you, Min. With you.
”
”
Daniel Handler (Why We Broke Up)
“
Look, I'm not ready for you," Min said. "I'm not prepared. I don't have any defenses when you're around. I make these plans and I mean it, I really do, and then I kiss you because I'm crazy about you which would be fine if I didn't fall in love with you but there that is, just standing there, and you know it, you know you've got me.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Life's a pitch, as the old woman said. She couldn't pronounce her 'b's.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
Never did he once consider directing his hatred toward the hunters. Such an emotion would have destroyed him ... His subconscious knew what his min did not guess-that hating them would have consumed him, burned him up like a piece of soft coal, leaving only flakes of ash and a question mark of smoke.
”
”
Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye)
“
I'll be right behind you"
behind her? Thirty-two steps with him looking at her butt?
"No, you wont."
"Look, it's late, i'm tired, can we just-"
"it'll be a cold day in hell when you follow me up those steps. You want to go up, you go first."
"Why?" he said mystified
"you're not looking at my rear end all the way up that hill."
Cal sighed and took the first step. "wait a minute. Now you'll be looking at my butt all the way up the steps."
"yes but you probably have a great butt," Min said. "it's an entirely different dynamic.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
A woman's lot is to suffer.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
In the end, your belly was your emperor.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
In Seoul, people like me get called Japanese bastards, and in Japan, I'm just another dirty Korean no matter how much money I make or how nice I am. So what the fuck?
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
because she would not believe that she was no different than her parents, that seeing him as only Korean—good or bad—was the same as seeing him only as a bad Korean. She could not see his humanity, and Noa realized that this was what he wanted most of all: to be seen as human.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
I could shove this swizzle stick through his heart, Min thought. She wouldn’t do it, of course. The stick was plastic and not nearly pointed enough on the end. Also people didn’t do things like that in Southern Ohio. A sawed-off shotgun, that was the ticket.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Emilio appeared with wine before Cal could say anything, and Min beamed at him, grateful for the rescue. "Emilio, my darling. I forgot to mention cake boxes. Two hundred cake boxes."
"Already on it," Emilio said. "Nonna said you'd need them. She said to get four-inch-square boxes for three-inch-square cakes."
"I'm getting the boxes," Min said, nodding. "Sure. Great. Fine. Your grandmother is an angel and you are my hero. And of course, a genius with food."
"And you are my favorite customer." Emilio kissed her cheek and disappeared back into the kitchen.
"I love him," she told Cal.
"I noticed," Cal said. "Been seeing him behind my back, have you?"
"Yes," Min said. "We've been having conversations about cake."
"Whoa," Cal said. "For you, that's talking dirty.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Because one moment in life does not define a person," Li Min said. "Without mistakes and misjudgments we would stagnate. It is no shameful thing to be beaten when outnumbered, not when you were brave enough to try. Nor is a scar or injury something to despair over, for it is a mark that you were strong enough to survive.
”
”
Alexandra Bracken (Wayfarer (Passenger, #2))
“
Sunja-ya, a woman’s life is endless work and suffering. There is suffering and then more suffering. It’s better to expect it, you know. You’re becoming a woman now, so you should be told this. For a woman, the man you marry will determine the quality of your life completely. A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life—but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard. No one will take care of a poor woman—just ourselves.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
It was not Hansu that she missed, or even Isak. What she was seeing again in her dreams was her youth, her beginning, and her wishes--so this is how she became a woman.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Tidak peduli kita tidak punya kesamaan darah, DNA, fisik, sifat, atau apapun itu, aku sudah menganggapmu adik semenjak kita bertemu. Dan kau tetap akan jadi adikku sampai kapanpun. Aku adalah hyeong-mu dan kau adalah dongsaeng-ku. Tidak akan ada yang berubah. (Jang Min Ho)
”
”
Orizuka
“
A hint of sensual frustration roughened his voice.
“And I will curse the gods along with them, Min. Some wild monsoon raged through me as I looked at you just now. It’s left me rearranged inside, and I don’t have a map.
”
”
Tessa Dare (A Week to be Wicked (Spindle Cove, #2))
“
Life makes you pay...everybody pays something
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Her father had taught her not to judge people on such shallow points: What a man wore or owned had nothing to do with his heart and character.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
It’s a secondhand world we’re born into. What is novel to us is only so because we’re newborn, and what we cannot see, that has come before- what our parents have seen and been and done- are the hand-me-downs we begin to wear as swaddling clothes, even as we ourselves are naked. The flaw runs through us, implicating us in its imperfection even as it separates us, delivers us onto opposite sides of a chasm. It is both terribly beautiful and terribly sad, but it is, finally, the fault in the universe that gives birth to us all.
”
”
Katherine Min (Secondhand World)
“
Neither had realized the loneliness each had lived with for such a long time until the loneliness was interrupted by genuine affection.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Writing is drawing the essence of what we know out of the shadows. That is what writing is about. Not what happens there, not what actions are played out there, but the there itself. There, that is writing's location and aim. But how to get there?
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
Frankly, I can't understand people who want to put down a certain type of music, whatever that might be. Classical music was pop music in its own age. It's a matter of taste and understanding - there's no good or bad, there's no highbrow or lowbrow.
”
”
Min Yoongi (SUGA of BTS)
“
It doesn't matter," Min said. "That's what I'm trying to tell you, it doesn't matter what you do or say. I'm going to love you till the end of time."
Cal looked at her, stunned.
"I know," Min said. "It's really un-PC. I just thought you should know that you can't screw this up."
"I can't?" Cal said, wanting to believe her.
"No," Min said. "Which doesn't mean I'm not going to tell if you make me mad again. I will shout and slam doors. I just won't be on the other side of the door when I slam it. You've got me for life."
He lost his breath and put his forehead against her shoulder. "God, I love you.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Well, you won't unless you come to lunch with me," Cal said. "I'm holding it for ransom. There's a gun
to its heel right now."
"I have lunch at my desk," Min began, and thought,Oh, for crying out loud, could I beany more
pathetic ?
"Emilio is experimenting with a lunch menu. He needs you. I need you.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
If you worked hard, then everything will be fine.
”
”
Tae Min
“
the pain didn’t go away, but its sharp edge had dulled and softened like sea glass.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
The only thing I have learned from life is to endure it, never to question it, and to burn up the longing generated by this in writing. Where this ideal has come from I have no idea, and as I now see it before me, in black and white, it almost seems perverse.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
All her life, Sunja had heard this sentiment from other women, that they must suffer—suffer as a girl, suffer as a wife, suffer as a mother—die suffering. Go-saeng—the word made her sick.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
my mother was taught the ch'an concept of happiness, which was to find satisfaction in small things. i was taught to appreciate the fresh air in the morning, the colour of leaves turning red in autumn and the water's smoothness when i soaked my hands in the basin.
”
”
Anchee Min
“
Go somewhere you know nothing about and see what happens.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 5 (Min kamp, #5))
“
Even if there were hundred bad Japanese, if there was one good one, he refused to make a blanket statement
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
So I know you must have a plan and this wolf—"
"Beast," Min said.
"—frog, whatever, can't fit your plan."
"He's not a frog," Min said. "I kissed him and he did not turn into a prince."He turned into a god. No,
he didn't . "Look, I'm never going to see him again, so everybody can relax.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Although, if you like everything you read, I can't take you seriously. Perhaps you didn't think about these books long enough.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
She pushed him onto the couch and straddled him...
Min swallowed "the thing is, im going to spread. Hips, thighs-"
"Not till nine-thirty," Cal said trying not to picture her.
"-waist," Min said then stopped. "What? nine-thirty? Not till my forties, probably, i think i can fight it off that long, but then-"
"What?" Cal said.
"Im going to get fat," Min said, and he blinked. "Er. Im going to get fatter." she frowned at him. "what did you think i meant?"
"for future reference," he said starting to laugh. "if you're sitting half naked on my lap and you tell me you're going to spread-"
"No! I would never say that!" she said.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
She's my friend, the boy said simply. That's who she is and that's enough for me. As Minli looked at the buffalo boy, aglow with happiness against his poor surroundings, she saw it was enough for him. More than enough, as the smile that kept curling up on his face told her.
”
”
Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon)
“
If you don't give up your hopes and dreams, then there will be a good ending,
”
”
Min Ho
“
Elvis!" Min shoved herself off the couch to shoo him away. "Stay away from there. There's broken glass."
"He did that on purpose," David said, outraged.
"Yes, David, the cat is plotting against you." Min fished the base out of the water and glass shards and put it on the table. Then she went to get her wastebasket and began to put the glass pieces in it.
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
I had been in the ditch for 2 and a half min. I wondered if my friends missed me.
”
”
Wendy Mass (Finally (Willow Falls, #2))
“
People are awful. Drink some beer.” Haruki
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Who has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God's residence is next to min,
His furniture is love.
”
”
Emily Dickinson
“
Put your hair up, Min. The secret ingredient is not your hair.
”
”
Daniel Handler (Why We Broke Up)
“
What my parents kept failing to understand was how happy I was when I was alone with my books. There was no pressure to perform or be cute, and books never disappoint-- unless, of course, you've chosen a bad one. But then, you can always put it down and pick up another one without any repercussions.
”
”
Lisa Yee (Millicent Min, Girl Genius (The Millicent Min Trilogy #1))
“
I was happy not to be in his place. He could command my death, but not his. But then, what kind of power was his? He was a prisoner of himself.
”
”
Anchee Min (Empress Orchid (Empress Orchid, #1))
“
If you feel like you’re going to crash then accelerate more, you idiot.
”
”
Min Yoongi (SUGA of BTS)
“
Age and gender, nationality and religion, what language you use - all of that isn’t important to me.
”
”
Min Yoongi
“
It's different," you said. "You've made, Min, everything different for me. Everything's like coffee you made me try, better than I ever - or the places I didn't even know were right on the street, you know? I'm like this thing I saw when I was little, where a kid hears a noise under his bed and there's a ladder there that's never been there before, and he climbs down and, it's for kids I know, but this song starts playing ..." Your eyes were traveling in the treey light.
”
”
Daniel Handler (Why We Broke Up)
“
Now I saw his lifeless state. And that there was no longer any difference between what once had been my father and the table he was lying on, or the floor on which the table stood, or the wall socket beneath the window, or the cable running to the lamp beside him. For humans are merely one form among many, which the world produces over and over again, not only in everything that lives but also in everything that does not live, drawn in sand, stone, and water. And death, which I have always regarded as the greatest dimension of life, dark, compelling, was no more than a pipe that springs a leak, a branch that cracks in the wind, a jacket that slips off a clothes hanger and falls to the floor.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
I sipped the coffee and lit a cigarette. I can't say that I enjoyed the taste of coffee or the feeling of smoke descending into my lungs, I could barely distinguish the two, the point was to do it, it was a routine, and as with all routines, protocol was everything.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
Then I met Linda and the sun rose.
I can't find a better way to express it. The sun rose in my life. At first, as dawn breaking on the horizon, almost as if to say, this is where you have to look. Then came the first rays of sunshine, everything became clearer, lighter, more alive, and I became happier and happier, and then it hung in the sky of my life and shone and shone and shone.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 2 (Min kamp, #2))
“
And just as music is the space between notes, just as the stars are beautiful because of the space between them, just as the sun strikes raindrops at a certain angle and throws a prism of colour across the sky - so the space where I exist, and want to keep existing, and to be quite frank I hope I die in, is exactly this middle distance: where despair struck pure otherness and created something sublime.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
Yes, of course. If you love anyone, you cannot help but share his suffering. If we love our Lord, not just admire him or fear him or want things from him, we must recognize his feelings; he must be in anguish over our sins. We must understand this anguish. The Lord suffers with us. He suffers like us. It is a consolation to know this. To know that we are not in fact alone in our suffering.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
I changed your life.” She looked down at the peach they shared. “You changed min. I’m glad of it.” And back into his eyes. “Every day. I’m glad of it. I’d like a pond, and maybe something to sit on so we could watch the creepy, interesting fish.”
“That would suit me very well.”
She linked her arms around his neck, laid her cheek on his. Love finds a way, she thought.
”
”
J.D. Robb (Treachery in Death (In Death, #32))
“
He was suffering, and in a way, he could manage that; but he had caused others to suffer, and he did not know why he had to live now and recall the series of terrible choices that had not looked so terrible at the time. Was that how it was for most people?
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Bet you ten bucks we make it."
What are the odds? she thought, and realized with sudden, blinding clarity that she wouldn't take the other side of that bet, that only a loser would bet against them. This is really it, she thought, amazed. This is really forever. I believe in this.
"Min?" he said, and she kissed him, putting all her heart into it.
"No bet," she said against his mouth. "Your odds are too good."
"Our odds are too good
”
”
Jennifer Crusie (Bet Me)
“
Do not be a people without a will of your own saying: If others treat well you will also treat well and if they do wrong we will do wrong; but accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and do not do wrong if they do evil.
”
”
Anonymous (The Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad / Min al-Hadith al-Sharif (Bilingual Edition: English/Arabic))
“
My mind swirled with memories of the life I had led. The constant struggle to keep up appearances, the pretenses, the smiles that had been met with tears. The long sleepless nights, the loneliness that cloaked my spirit and turned me into a true ghost.
”
”
Anchee Min
“
For the love of ammonites, man! That's just stupid. Why on earth would the Society need to protect unmarried women from bone-dry lectures regarding soil composition? Do your members find themselves whipped into some sort of dusty frenzy, from which no delicate lass would be safe?"
Mr. Barrington tugged on his coat. "Sometimes the debate does get heated."
Colin turned to her. "Min, Can I just hit him?"
"I think that's a bad idea."
"run him through with something sharp?
”
”
Tessa Dare (A Week to be Wicked (Spindle Cove, #2))
“
Noa stared at her. She would always believe that he was someone else, that he wasn't himself but some fanciful idea of a foreign person; she would always feel like she was someone special because she had condescended to be with someone everyone else hated. His presence would prove to the world that she was a good person, an educated person, a liberal person. Noa didn't care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn't care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes. But that wasn't possible. It would never be possible with her.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
As your perspective of the world increases not only is the pain it inflicts on you less but also its meaning. Understanding the world requires you to take a certain distance from it. Things that are too small to see with the naked eye, such as molecules and atoms, we magnify. Things that are too large, such as cloud formations, river deltas, constellations, we reduce. At length we bring it within the scope of our senses and we stabilize it with fixer. When it has been fixed we call it knowledge. Throughout our childhood and teenage years, we strive to attain the correct distance to objects and phenomena. We read, we learn, we experience, we make adjustments. Then one day we reach the point where all the necessary distances have been set, all the necessary systems have been put in place. That is when time begins to pick up speed. It no longer meets any obstacles, everything is set, time races through our lives, the days pass by in a flash and before we know that is happening we are fort, fifty, sixty... Meaning requires content, content requires time, time requires resistance. Knowledge is distance, knowledge is stasis and the enemy of meaning. My picture of my father on that evening in 1976 is, in other words, twofold: on the one hand I see him as I saw him at that time, through the eyes of an eight-year-old: unpredictable and frightening; on the other hand, I see him as a peer through whose life time is blowing and unremittingly sweeping large chunks of meaning along with it.
”
”
Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 1 (Min kamp, #1))
“
I continue to wonder,' he said, glancing down at Min, 'why you all assume that I am too dense to see what you find so obvious. Yes, Nynaeve. Yes, this hardness will destroy me. I know.' ...
You all claim that I have grown too hard, that I will inevitably shatter and break if I continue on. But you assume that there needs to be something left of me to continue on. ...
That's the key, Nynaeve. I see it now. I will not live through this, and so I don't need to worry about what might happen to me after the Last Battle. I don't need to hold back, don't need to salvage anything of this beaten up soul of mine.
”
”
Brandon Sanderson (The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time, #12))
“
He was a soldier. He was a shepherd. He was a beggar, and a king. He was a farmer, gleeman, sailor, carpenter. He was born, lived, and died Aiel. He died mad, he died rotting, he died of sickness, accident, age. He was executed, and multitudes cheered his death. He proclaimed himself the Dragon Reborn and flung his banner across the sky; he ran from the Power and hid; he lived and died never knowing. He held off the madness and the sickness for years; he succumbed between two winters. Sometimes Moiraine came and took him away from the Two Rivers, alone or with those of his friends who had survived Winternight; sometimes she did not. Sometimes other Aes Sedai came for him. Sometimes Red Ajah. Egwene married him; Egwene, stern-faced in stole of Amyrlin Seat, led Aes Sedai who gentled him; Egwene, with tears in her eyes, plunged a dagger into his heart, and he thanked her as he died. He loved other women, married other women. Elayne, and Min, and a fair-haired farmer's daughter met on the road to Caemlyn, and women he had never seen before he lived those lives. A hundred lives. More. So many he could not count them. And at the end of every life, as he lay dying, as he drew his final breath, a voice whispered in his ear. I have won again, Lews Therin. Flicker.
”
”
Robert Jordan (The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2))
“
Why did her family think pachinko was so terrible? Her father, a traveling salesman, had sold expensive life insurance policies to isolated housewives who couldn't afford them, and Mozasu created spaces where grown men and women could play pinball for money. Both men had made money from chance and fear and loneliness. Every morning, Mozasu and his men tinkered with the machines to fix the outcomes--there could only be a few winners and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones. How could you get angry at the ones who wanted to be in the game? Etsuko had failed in this important way--she had not taught her children to hope, to believe in the perhaps-absurd possibility that they might win. Pachinko was a foolish game, but life was not.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
What a stupid, fucking, idiotic country this was. All the young women drank water in such vast quantities that it was coming out of their ears, they thought it was "beneficial" and "healthy," but all it did was send the numbers of incontinent young people soaring. Children ate whole wheat pasta and whole wheat bread and all sorts of weird coarse-grained rice that their stomachs could not digest properly, but it didn't matter because it was "beneficial," it was "healthy," it was "wholesome." Oh, they were confusing food with the mind, they thought they could eat their way to being better human beings without understanding that food is one thing and the notions food evokes another. And if you said that, you were either a reactionary or just a Norwegian, in other words ten years behind the times.
”
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Karl Ove Knausgård (Min kamp 2 (Min kamp, #2))
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Etsuko had to go back to the restaurant, but she settled on the sofa for a few minutes. When she had been a young mother there used to be only one time in her waking hours where she’d felt a kind of peace, and that was always after her children went to bed for the night. She longed to see her sons as they were back then: their legs chubby and white, their mushroom haircuts misshapen because they could never sit still at the barber. She wished she could take back the times she had scolded her children just because she was tired. There were so many errors. If life allowed revisions, she would let them stay in their bath a little longer, read them one more story before bed, and fix them another plate of shrimp.
”
”
Min Jin Lee (Pachinko)
“
Fire and hope are connected, just so you know.
The way the Greek told it, Zeus put Prometheus and Epimetheus in charge of creating life on earth. Epimetheus made the animals, giving out bonuses like swiftness and strenght and fur and wings.
By the time Prometheus made man, all the best qualities had been given out. He settled for making them walk upright, and he gave them fire.
Zeus, pissed off, took it away. But prometheus saw his pride and joy shivering and unable to cook. He lit a torch from the sun and brought it to man again.
To punish Prometheus, Zeus had him chained to a rock, where an eagle fed on his liver. To punish man, Zeus created the first woman-Pandora-and gave her a gift, a box she was forbidden to open.
Pandora's curiosity got the best of her, and one day she opened that box. Out came plagues and misery and mischief. She managed to shut the lid tight before hope escaped.
It's the only weapon we have left to fight the others.
”
”
Jodi Picoult (Allt för min syster)
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Words for everyday showers of prettiness, and the kind of misty loveliness that disappears whenever you try to grasp it. Beauty that’s heralded by impressive thunder, but turns out to be all flash. And beyond all these, there’d be this word . . . a word that even the most grizzled, wizened elders might have uttered twice in their lifetimes, and in hushed, fearful tones at that. A word for a sudden, cataclysmic torrent of beauty with the power to change landscapes. Make plains out of valleys and alter the course of rivers and leave people clinging to trees, alive and resentful, shaking their fists at the heavens.” A hint of sensual frustration roughened his voice. “And I will curse the gods along with them, Min. Some wild monsoon raged through me as I looked at you just now. It’s left me rearranged inside, and I don’t have a map.
”
”
Tessa Dare (A Week to be Wicked (Spindle Cove, #2))
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A quiet but indomitable voice behind me said, “I believe this is my dance.”
It was Ren. I could feel his presence. The warmth of him seeped into my back, and I quivered all over like spring leaves in a warm breeze.
Kishan narrowed his eyes and said, “I believe it is the lady’s choice.”
Kishan looked down at me. I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I simply nodded and removed my arms from his neck. Kishan glared at his replacement and stalked angrily off the dance floor.
Ren stepped in front of me, took my hands gently in his, and placed them around his neck, bringing my face achingly close to his. Then he slid his hands slowly and deliberately over my bare arms and down my sides, until they encircled my waist. He traced little circles on my exposes lower back with his fingers, squeezed my waist, and drew my body up tightly against him.
He guided me expertly through the slow dance. He didn’t say anything, at least not with words, but he was still sending lots of signals. He pressed his forehead against mine and leaned down to nuzzle my ear. He buried his face in my hair and lifted his hand to stroke down the length of it. His fingers played along my bare arm and at my waist.
When the song ended, it took both of us a min to recover our senses and remember where we were. He traced the curve of my bottom lip with his finger then reached up to take my hand from around his neck and led me outside to the porch.
I thought he would stop there, but he headed down the stairs and guided me to a wooded area with stone benches. The moon made his skin glow. He was wearing a white shirt with dark slacks. The white made me think of him as the tiger.
He pulled me under the shadow of a tree. I stood very still and quiet, afraid that if I spoke I’d say something I’d regret.
He cupped my chin and tilted my face up so he could look in my eyes. “Kelsey, there’s something I need to say to you, and I want you to be silent and listen.”
I nodded my head hesitantly.
“First, I want to let you know that I heard everything you said to me the other night, and I’ve been giving your words some very serious thought. It’s important for you to understand that.”
He shifted and picked up a lock of hair, tucked it behind my ear, and trailed his fingers down my cheek to my lips. He smiled sweetly at me, and I felt the little love plant bask in his smile and turn toward it as if it contained the nourishing rays of the sun. “Kelsey,” he brushed a hand through his hair, and his smile turned into a lopsided grin, “the fact is…I’m in love with you, and I have been for some time.”
I sucked in a deep breath.
He picked up my hand and played with my fingers. “I don’t want you to leave.” He began kissing my fingers while looking directly into my eyes. It was hypnotic. He took something out of his pocket. “I want to give you something.” He held out a golden chain covered with small tinkling bell charms. “It’s an anklet. They’re very popular here, and I got this one so we’d never have to search for a bell again.”
He crouched down, wrapping his hand around the back of my calf, and then slid his palm down to my ankle and attached the clasp. I swayed and barely stopped myself from falling over. He trailed his warm fingers lightly over the bells before standing up. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he squeezed, and pulled me closer.
“Kells . . . please.” He kissed my temple, my forehead, and my cheek. Between each kiss, he sweetly begged, “Please. Please. Please. Tell me you’ll stay with me.” When his lips brushed lightly against mine, he said, “I need you,” then crushed his lips against mine.
”
”
Colleen Houck (Tiger's Curse (The Tiger Saga, #1))