Words of Farewell Quotes

“At my age, what's the use of thinking about my talents? Effort is what's necessary. (Kang 1989: 117)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“Like a foolish girl you're trying to find yourself beyond the world. If you'd only given in a little, you wouldn't have had to go around butting up against the world; you wouldn't have had spill your blood. You would have found that the springtime of life isn't a chain; it's a pair of wings. (Kang 1989: 147)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“A world in which people fight for the sake of business is alien to me, a scene in a bell jar.
The glittering slogans are for someone else.
I'm and island, an island that traps me and touches nowhere. (Kang 1989: 146)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“This isn't a dream.
No wings, just a body in a sterile world.
I'm not a bird, not a butterfly, but a crawling snake chafing all over against a filthy world. Wings are an illusion.
The illusion shatters and I'm an aching, suffering, ugly body. (Kang 1989: 146)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“Then what's the life goal of those of us in the middle class? A promotion to department head or manager? Having children and passing on the family name? Someone who lives comfortably like me and people in the older generation who've adapted to the system are in no position to talk to the students about life goals. (Kang 1989: 142)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“When kids gathered with kids, it was like a haven in the woods. They found comfort together and realized they weren't the only ones who were confused. (Kang 1989: 127)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“When we're suffering, everything about life seems painful, but if we open our eyes wide, there's an infinite world out there - an infinite reality. Don't you want to know about that world? (Kang 1989: 121)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“I assume, of course, that people want to live a long life and to have cures for their illnesses, but they should also know how to die with courage. But in science, which does not agree with this, I see instead an ugly side of humanity. To put it more radically, people should know how to kill themselves. (Kang 1989: 119-120)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“College is competition. You think it's a training school for pleasure? Why do you think I sent you kids to college? It's so you'll have a better marriage than others, a better job than others. (Kang 1989: 91)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“So-yang had written that there was no one she longed for, but she was always trying to find something in people. Myong-ju had called it "truth", but couldn't it be a tangible, familiar face So-yang was seeking? The wounds received from humans are healed through humans. But So-yang's drifting seemed like reckless dissipation to me. (Kang 1989: 90)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“Perhaps So-yang was talking about having an ideal rather than a want. Even if she hadn't been able to discover this ideal, this want, the anxiety of not yet having one is a more future-oriented worry than the immediate suffering we feel when an ideal is smashed. This is because not yet having gives us the desire and the urge to create. (Kang 1989: 85)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“For a moment I didn't know what to say. So she didn't know what she wanted. But didn't we discover our immediate wants as we wen through life? And aren't those wants variable rather than absolute? Because once we've satisfied some of them, we end up with other ones. (Kang 1989: 85)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“Granted, up to now I've been able to live materialistically, free of inconveniences, thanks to Father. But if I look at this through Myong-ju's eyes, I owe it all to the blood and sweat of the workers. That's probably true. It's like America's wealth, which was obtained through the exploitation of blacks. Behind prosperity there are clearly some victims.
But as long as I'm living like a petit-bourgeois thanks to Father's Yudo Trading Company, I'm afraid to look how the workers live in the factory dorms. I'd like to put this problem aside for the time being. Even thinking about it gives me a headache. (Kang 1989: 66)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers

“English was a symbol of peace and wealth to me. (Kang 1989: 18)”
― Kang Sok-Kyong, Words of Farewell: Stories by Korean Women Writers