White Chrysanthemum Quotes

“You followed your heart. That is all I ever wished for both of my children. I'm proud of you ... of your choices for your own lives. I'm happy that they were yours to make. Nothing could give me more satisfaction as your mother. You have what I never dreamed of.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Silence that is what she strives for, so that she can be invisible.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“I am a haenyeo. Like my mother, and her mother before her, like my sister will be one day, her daughters too - I was never anything but a woman of the sea. Neither you or any man can make me less than that.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Words are power, her father once told her after reciting one of his political poems. The more words you know, the more powerful you become. That is why the Japanese outlaw our native language. They are limiting our power by limiting our words.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“On Hana’s island, diving is women’s work. Their bodies suit the cold depths of the ocean better than men’s. They can hold their breath longer, swim deeper, and keep their body temperature warmer, so for centuries, Jeju women have enjoyed a rare independence.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Pity is a kindness,' Keiko says, her voice absolute. 'Each of us deserves pity, but no one in this forsaken land has the compassion to give us this kindnes. So we are stuck here in this humiliation, tortured day after day. There is nothing left for us but to bestow what little kindness we have onto one another.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Como era a risada dela? (...) Era como um pássaro flutuando graciosamente numa brisa de verão, subindo e descendo como as ondas, penteando as pontas das árvores ao passar deslizando. Soava... livre.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“People these days seem content to search for happiness in life. That is something her generation never fathomed, that happiness is a basic human right, but now it seems like a possibility.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Je suis une haenyeo", dit-elle en le foudroyant du regard. Les mots se mettent à sortir, pareils à une confession. "Comme ma mère, comme sa mère avant elle, et comme ma sœur le sera un jour, ainsi que ses filles - je n'ai jamais été rien d'autre qu'une fille de la mer. Ni vous ni aucun homme ne pourrez me l'enlever.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“... she knows all too well anything can happen in the blink of an eye.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“All wars are crimes against the world's women and girls!”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Emi’s grief was buried beneath Jeju International Airport. At the time it was a military airfield, abandoned by the Japanese imperial air force when they left the island after the Second World War ended. More than seven hundred political dissidents were held there,”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Her shame is her han. Shame for surviving two wars while those around her suffered and perished, shame for never speaking out for justice, and shame for continuing to live when she never understood the point of her life.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Às vezes velhas feridas precisam ser reabertas para serem curadas de maneira adequada”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Uma história que dedico a todas as mulheres do mundo que sofreram na guerra ou continuam sofrendo.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Eu tive uma vida tranquila. Você roubou de mim. Nunca vou esquecer isso.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“A vergonha que ela sente é totalmente enraizada e não tem nada a ver com a prostituição forçada de sua irmã. (...) A vergonha é sua han. Vergonha de ter sobrevivido a duas guerras enquanto os outros à sua volta sofreram e morreram, vergonha de nunca ter se pronunciado por justiça, e vergonha por continuar vivendo quando nunca entendeu de fato o sentido da vida.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Ela é a recompensa de guerra que ele pediu para si.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Quando os homens a visitam, dia após dia, ela se retira da realidade e se enxerga mergulhando nas profundezas do oceano, numa evasão de seu entorno”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Ela é uma cidadã segunda classe em seu próprio país, com direitos de segunda classe.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum

“Her son would follow his father's every step, like a shadow; they were inseparable. Perhaps that's why her son had become so angry when his father died. He had lost his shade on this earth and was left to burn in the scorching sun.”
― Mary Lynn Bracht, White Chrysanthemum