Like Wind Against Rock Quotes

“Comfort isn’t the same thing as romance. Familiarity isn’t the same thing as passion.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“What we felt when it was just the two of us wasn't the awkwardness of strangers but the lonely quiet of a party after the guests had departed.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“By the time you graduate, you’ll be . . .” “The same age I would be if I didn’t do it.” There was no point in waiting for the perfect time, the perfect person, the perfect opportunity. I understand better now that there is no choice to opt out of a life. It is about more than simply seizing the day. It is about the accumulation of days, the way each moment, each decision, connects to the next, how just the sheer number of decisions, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, can shape your life, can beyour life. The incrementalism of existence, the winds that eventually create canyons. The years pass, so stealthily, whether you choose to pay attention or not, whether you are ready or not. You have more need of time than it has of you.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“These days, I am eager to fall asleep so I can be near her again.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“She keeps things because she doesn’t like to spend money unnecessarily and because she doesn’t want to be punished for wasting God’s resources. With my mother, superstition, religion, and conservation are inextricably bound. Her God doesn’t demand prayers before meals or attendance at church but damns those who waste rice and electricity.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“Time for me doesn’t fly so much as tiptoe past, as though trying not to draw attention to itself, like an early-departing guest at a bad party.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“Instead of spending the rest of her days steeped in regret, she is reclaiming the narrative of her life, changing its meaning by changing its ending.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“The tallest rice stalk always gets cut down.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“The years pass, so stealthily, whether you choose to pay attention or not, whether you are ready or not. You have more need of time than it has of you.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“minutes later, I am sitting by myself at the back”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“There was no point in waiting for the perfect time, the perfect person, the perfect opportunity. I understand better now that there is no choice to opt out of a life. It is about more than simply seizing the day. It is about the accumulation of days, the way each moment, each decision, connects to the next, how just the sheer number of decisions, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential, can shape your life, can be your life. The incrementalism of existence, the winds that eventually create canyons. The years pass, so stealthily, whether you choose to pay attention or not, whether you are ready or not. You have more need of time than it has of you.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“My eyes fill with tears, but Ahma’s face hardens as though someone has outlined her features with black crayon. “I already miss your father when he was alive. I already suffer for that.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“We can sit together on the couch while my daughter and my wife perform their ritual dance of intimacy and repulsion, each trying to impress and insult the other with subtle expressions and well-chosen remarks that strike to the core of who they are. They are as deft as geishas in their nuanced performance and just as irritating to watch. In fact, I must admit that I prefer the company of my son-in-law to my own daughter. He is not my responsibility, and his shortcomings are not my fault. My daughter, on the other hand, is the product of all my efforts, my hopes and my dreams. She is the embodiment of the love I shared with my wife. Perhaps that is why she is a failure. When I see Alice, I see frustration, broken promises, missed opportunities. I see myself, unfinished and unfulfilled.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“This man has everything, and yet he is dissatisfied. His wife is loving. His daughter beautiful and kind. Yet, he has nothing but sour words to say about them. He cannot appreciate what is right in front of him.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“She remade me in her own eyes, and I happily succumbed. My new name was nondescript, a blank canvas upon which I allowed her to rewrite my identity.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“Expressive words, terms of endearment, occasions that require presents—all make me shift with discomfort. For me, the display creates distance rather than intimacy. […] I brought a cake into the office because my coworkers like sweets and because they are not so close to me. I can celebrate with them because the celebration creates the meaning. But with Victor? Everything means so much.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock

“The thing that gets me is that I didn't plan this. It wasn't like I made the choice to be a bookkeeper for the rest of my life, or to rent or not own, or to be childless and divorced at the age of thirty-nine. That's the problem. If, at any point in my life, someone had forced me to make a decision, I might have chosen something else. At least, that's what I like to think.”
― Nancy Kim, Like Wind Against Rock