Chang-Rae Lee

The truth, finally, is who can tell it.

— Chang-Rae Lee

“I'm a B+ student of life.”

— Chang-rae Lee

“Our tainted world looms within us, every one.”

— Chang-rae Lee

“Behold a fire from the opposite shore.”

— Chang-rae Lee

Do not discount the psychic warmth of the hive.

— Chang-Rae Lee

It is 'where we are' that should make all the difference, whether we believe we belong there or not.

— Chang-Rae Lee

“Suffering is the noblest art, the quieter the better.”

— Chang-rae Lee

Most people dont think about race as much as I do. They dont have to.

— Chang-Rae Lee

For at some point, each of us will be asked to embody what we feel and know.

— Chang-Rae Lee

To be honest, Im not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated.

— Chang-Rae Lee

Don’t sanctuaries become prisons, and vice versa, foremost in the mind?

— Chang-Rae Lee

I think book clubs should read more contemporary poetry.

— Chang-Rae Lee

To be honest, I'm not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated.

— Chang-Rae Lee

“This is how we were meant for each other. How we make our living. The lives of frustrated poets and imposters. This,…

— Chang-rae Lee

I didn't leave Wall Street because the work was against my nature - I do have a pretty good head for numbers.…

— Chang-Rae Lee

We arrived the way most emigrant families did. My father came first, and the rest of us - my mother, my sister…

— Chang-Rae Lee

It's hard to write a war story without thinking about the 'Iliad.' Because the 'Iliad' knows everything about war.

— Chang-Rae Lee

A novel, even a social realist one, can't simply be a comprehensive rendering of what is. A novel requires a special angle…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“...it seems to me that life's moments don't have to be so right or not right anymore, so fraught and weighted with…

— Chang-rae Lee

I think my parents recognised that I'd always wanted to be a writer, and so they didn't think that this was some…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I'd always wanted to write something about the Korean War because of my heritage. My father lost his brother during the war,…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I try to be aware of what I'm concerned about, aware of how I feel about myself in the world, aware of…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I did feel a little afraid, as you say, the complete liberty and "elasticity" of it. But I found that I liked…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“We feel ever obliged by everday charges and tasks. They conscript us more and more. We find world enough in a frame.…

— Chang-rae Lee

“But maybe it’s the laboring that gives you shape. Might the most fulfilling times be those spent solo at your tasks, literally…

— Chang-rae Lee

“And while it's easy to say this is a situation to be avoided, isn't this what we also fear and crave simultaneously,…

— Chang-rae Lee

It's not that I wrote those details, but photos can give you the confidence that you have a real feel for the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

Obviously loss of family is huge and critical, but I think really it's more about losing a sense of family. The horror…

— Chang-Rae Lee

We have hopes and make plans, and if they are dashed or waylaid, we naturally rationalize and redraw the map to locate…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“We nearly pressed each other to death, our swollen lips and eyes, wishing up on ourselves the fall of tears, that great…

— Chang-rae Lee

“Fan would have expected that one or two of the Girls would have long rebelled at spending a life in a room,…

— Chang-rae Lee

“Her endeavor was misguided and wrong and maybe plain crazy, akin to someone waking up one day and deciding he’s going to…

— Chang-rae Lee

“I wonder if my father, given the chance, would have wished to go back to the time before he made all that…

— Chang-rae Lee

“And though the implication is that I am the sort who is always careful and preparing, I that that's not right, either'…

— Chang-rae Lee

Some writers are writing one great, big book and just taking all these different avenues towards it. They might seem on the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“We have to wonder what this might suggest about the relationship between the public realm and private lives in our settlement. Some…

— Chang-rae Lee

Not to any really influential effect, but certainly there have been comments that have surprised me. It's surprising sometimes to get particular…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“He said you could tell about a person not from what he believed, but by what worried him.”

— Chang-rae Lee

I'm not the sort of writer who can plan out things. Mostly I have no idea where I'm going.

— Chang-Rae Lee

Imagination might not be limitless. It's still tethered to the universe of what we know.

— Chang-Rae Lee