Quotes from Native Speaker
Quotes from Lee Chang-rae's Native Speaker
It was clearly Kwang's Confucian training at work,
his secular religion of pure hierarchy,
his belief that everyone is at once
a noble and a servant and then just a man.
Its adherents know no hubris. Instead this:
you simply bow down before those who would honor you.
You honor them back.
For you are but ash to their fire.
All spent of light.
Sometimes I suspect of us living that we are married.
The unspoiled must take leave of the world.
I think they must bear the ills of their loved ones.
I am not speaking as a Christian here. You know I am not a Christian.
But in my heart I fear they are vessels for our failures.
We make it impossible for them to live in this place.
One day they fill up.
Then they sink.
They disappear.
I feel like a rock in some boy's polishing kit.
I go in dull, scratched up, and then rumble rumble whir,
I'm supposed to come out precious and sparkling again.
--Does it work?
They seem to think so.
--How do you feel?
A little smaller.
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It was clearly Kwang's Confucian training at work,
his secular religion of pure hierarchy,
his belief that everyone is at once
a noble and a servant and then just a man.
Its adherents know no hubris. Instead this:
you simply bow down before those who would honor you.
You honor them back.
For you are but ash to their fire.
All spent of light.
Sometimes I suspect of us living that we are married.
The unspoiled must take leave of the world.
I think they must bear the ills of their loved ones.
I am not speaking as a Christian here. You know I am not a Christian.
But in my heart I fear they are vessels for our failures.
We make it impossible for them to live in this place.
One day they fill up.
Then they sink.
They disappear.
I feel like a rock in some boy's polishing kit.
I go in dull, scratched up, and then rumble rumble whir,
I'm supposed to come out precious and sparkling again.
--Does it work?
They seem to think so.
--How do you feel?
A little smaller.
Click here to be added to the Friends-Only Filter in order to read daily entries.