The Sympathizer

by Viet Thanh Nguyen

“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.”

Although every country thought itself superior in its own way, was there ever a country that coined so many “super” terms from the federal bank of its narcissism, was not only superconfident but also truly superpowerful, that would not be satisfied until it locked every nation of the world into a full nelson and made it cry Uncle Sam?

It is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends.

Is the Oriental in the West to feel forever homeless, a stranger, a foreigner, no matter how many generations lived on the soil of Judeo-Christian culture,

true revolution also involved sexual liberation.

I, for one, am a person who believes that the world would be a better place if the word “murder” made us mumble as much as the word “masturbation.”

One must listen to them carefully to understand that while pain is universal, it is also utterly private.

Melancholy slipped her dry, papery hand into mine as she always did when I thought about my mother, whose life was so short, whose opportunities were so few, whose sacrifices were so great, and who was due to suffer one last indignity for the sake of entertainment.

The problem is that those who insist on their innocence believe anything they do is just. At least we who believe in our own guilt know what dark things we can do.

what is more revolutionary than helping one’s enemy and his kin? What is more radical than forgiveness?

After all, nothing was more American than wielding a gun and committing oneself to die for freedom and independence, unless it was wielding that gun to take away someone else’s freedom and independence.

Life’s a suicide mission.

I’m dying because this world I’m living in isn’t worth dying for! If something is worth dying for, then you’ve got a reason to live.

All of us who are living are dying. The only ones not dying are the dead.

Sympathy alone would never persuade the rich to share willingly and the powerful to give up power voluntarily. Revolution made those impossible things happen. Revolution would free us all, rich and poor .

for we are the ones most able to know ourselves and yet the most unable to know ourselves.