184 Quotes by Min Jin Lee

No one is clean. Living makes you dirty.

A good God wouldn't have let my babies die. I can't believe in that. My babies did nothing wrong.""I agree. They did nothing wrong." He looked at her thoughtfully. "But a God that did everything we thought was right and good wouldn't be the creator of the universe. He would be our puppet. He wouldn't be God. There's more to everything than we know.

His Presbyterian minster father had believed in a divine design, and Mozasu believed that life was like this game where the player could adjust the dials yet also expect the uncertainty of factors he couldn't control. He understood why his customers wanted to play something that looked fixed but which also left room for randomness and hope.

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.

They do not hire Koreans or Chinese, but that will not matter to you since you are Japanese.” Bingo nodded several times. “Soo desu,” Noa agreed. (Lee 334)

They do not hire Koreans or Chinese, but that will not matter to you since you are Japanese.' Bingo nodded several times. 'Soo desu,' Noa agreed (Lee 334).

The pinball business was dirty, they said; pachinko gave off a strong odor of poverty and criminality

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.

There's no such thing as a benevolent leader. ... Those communists don't care about you. They don't care about anybody.