Chol Quotes & Sayings

[ ... ] The negative turned positive, black misery sublimated into heightened consciousness, suffering into solidarity! — Kang Chol-Hwan

I once believed man was different from other animals, but Yodok showed me that reality doesn't support this opinion. In the camp, there was no difference between man and beast, except maybe that a very hungry human was capable of stealing food from its little ones while an animal, perhaps, was not. — Kang Chol-Hwan

People who are hungry don't have the heart to think about others. Sometimes they can't even care for their own family. Hunger quashes man's will to help his fellow man. I've seen fathers steal food from their own children's lunchboxes. As they scarf down the corn they have only one overpowering desire: to placate, if even for just one moment, that feeling of insufferable need. — Kang Chol-Hwan

North Korea, under its thirtysomething Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, is no country for old men. The latest casualty in Kim's ongoing purge of the senior military command was the defense minister, Hyon Yong-chol, who reportedly committed the classic old man's offense of falling asleep in a meeting. — Barbara Demick

A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways. — Niccolo Machiavelli

At the time, I remained relatively calm before that spectacle of horrors, which is perhaps the most telling indication of just how desensitized I had become. The more I witnessed such atrocities and rubbed shoulders with death, the more I desired to stay alive, no matter the cost. — Kang Chol-Hwan

I have never received full credit from the SPLA [Sudanese People's Liberation Army], because the men are very sexist and feel that I'm acting out of place, bringing too much attention to myself - but for the funeral of our leader John Garang, they had me write the poem "Chol Apieth" to eulogize him, and that was their way of acknowledging my contributions. — Kola Boof

Women who make the choice to have grey hair - I think that's beautiful. — Andie MacDowell

My beautiful wife shown too bright to live long. — Pierce Brown

Hunger quashes man's will to help his fellow man. — Kang Chol-Hwan

Turned away from the sooty sill and the dark city-
turned away forever
from the factories, the personal strivings,
to a life of the imagination. — Mary Oliver

Jehovah, the great and mighty God of Israel, protects and gives His warriors victory over His enemies, Selah."

~R. Alan Woods [2013] — R. Alan Woods

Dear Gods of Heaven and Earth.
The universe has began, without a beginning.
Even if it's divided into Heaven, Earth, and Man, the essence is the same.
Although Heaven, Earth, and Man are different in form, they have the same nature.
Although Heaven is full of spirits, because there is no box to contain it, fom heaven came Man.
When the three absolutes move in harmony, energy is created, covering all the material and the spirit for the Man.
All the use of all creation may change, the basic mind is originally the bright light.
Shine on Man with respect for it, Man is the best of the universe. — Auliq Ice

The only lesson I got pounded into me was about man's limitless capacity for vice - that and the fact that social distinctions vanish in a concentration camp. I once believed that man was different from other animals, but Yodok showed me that reality doesn't support this opinion. — Kang Chol-Hwan

What kind of writer are you?" You can't think of a single sentence that would satisfy Hyong-chol. Your — Kyung-Sook Shin