“Nothing . . . is ever so expensive as what is offered for free.”
―
Viet Thanh Nguyen,
The Sympathizer
“If youth was not wasted, how could it be youth?” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I could live without television, but not without books.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“We don’t succeed or fail because of fortune or luck. We succeed because we understand the way the world works and what we have to do. We fail because others understand this better than we do.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right , a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Americans on the average do not trust intellectuals, but they are cowed by power and stunned by celebrity.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Remember, you're not half of anything, you're twice of everything.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I was in close quarters with some representative specimens of the most dangerous creature in the history of the world, the white man in a suit.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“It is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Death would hurt only for a moment, which was not so bad when one considered how much, and for how long, life hurt.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Now a guarantee of happiness—that's a great deal. But a guarantee to be allowed to pursue the jackpot of happiness? Merely an opportunity to buy a lottery ticket. Someone would surely win millions, but millions would surely pay for it.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen
“Country music was the most segregated kind of music in America, where even whites played jazz and even blacks sang in the opera. Something like country music was what lynch mobs must have enjoyed while stringing up their black victims. Country music was not necessarily lynching music, but no other music could be imagined as lynching’s accompaniment. Beethoven’s Ninth was the opus for Nazis, concentration camp commanders, and possibly President Truman as he contemplated atomizing Hiroshima, classical music the refined score for the high-minded extermination of brutish hordes. Country music was set to the more humble beat of the red-blooded, bloodthirsty American heartland. It was for fear of being beaten to this beat that black soldiers avoided the Saigon bars where their white comrades kept the jukeboxes humming with Hank Williams and his kind, sonic signposts that said, in essence, No Niggers.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Your problem isn’t that you think too much; your problem is letting everyone know what you’re thinking.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“She cursed me at such length and with such inventiveness I had to check both my watch and my dictionary.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Besides my conscience, my liver was the most abused part of my body.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I had an abiding respect for the professionalism of career prostitutes, who wore their dishonesty more openly than lawyers, both of whom bill by the hour.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Our country itself was cursed, bastardized, partitioned into north and south, and if it could be said of us that we chose division and death in our uncivil war, that was also only partially true. We had not chosen to be debased by the French, to be divided by them into an unholy trinity of north, center, and south, and to be turned over to the great powers of capitalism and communism for a further bisection, then given roles as the clashing armies of a Cold War chess match played in air-conditioned rooms by white men wearing suits and lies.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“If youth was not wasted, how could it be youth?” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I could live without television, but not without books.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“We don’t succeed or fail because of fortune or luck. We succeed because we understand the way the world works and what we have to do. We fail because others understand this better than we do.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“While it is better to be loved than hated, it is also far better to be hated than ignored.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right , a dilemma none of us who wanted participate in history could escape.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Americans on the average do not trust intellectuals, but they are cowed by power and stunned by celebrity.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Remember, you're not half of anything, you're twice of everything.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I was in close quarters with some representative specimens of the most dangerous creature in the history of the world, the white man in a suit.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“It is always better to admire the best among our foes rather than the worst among our friends” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Death would hurt only for a moment, which was not so bad when one considered how much, and for how long, life hurt.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Now a guarantee of happiness—that's a great deal. But a guarantee to be allowed to pursue the jackpot of happiness? Merely an opportunity to buy a lottery ticket. Someone would surely win millions, but millions would surely pay for it.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen
“Country music was the most segregated kind of music in America, where even whites played jazz and even blacks sang in the opera. Something like country music was what lynch mobs must have enjoyed while stringing up their black victims. Country music was not necessarily lynching music, but no other music could be imagined as lynching’s accompaniment. Beethoven’s Ninth was the opus for Nazis, concentration camp commanders, and possibly President Truman as he contemplated atomizing Hiroshima, classical music the refined score for the high-minded extermination of brutish hordes. Country music was set to the more humble beat of the red-blooded, bloodthirsty American heartland. It was for fear of being beaten to this beat that black soldiers avoided the Saigon bars where their white comrades kept the jukeboxes humming with Hank Williams and his kind, sonic signposts that said, in essence, No Niggers.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Your problem isn’t that you think too much; your problem is letting everyone know what you’re thinking.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“She cursed me at such length and with such inventiveness I had to check both my watch and my dictionary.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Besides my conscience, my liver was the most abused part of my body.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“I had an abiding respect for the professionalism of career prostitutes, who wore their dishonesty more openly than lawyers, both of whom bill by the hour.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
“Our country itself was cursed, bastardized, partitioned into north and south, and if it could be said of us that we chose division and death in our uncivil war, that was also only partially true. We had not chosen to be debased by the French, to be divided by them into an unholy trinity of north, center, and south, and to be turned over to the great powers of capitalism and communism for a further bisection, then given roles as the clashing armies of a Cold War chess match played in air-conditioned rooms by white men wearing suits and lies.” ― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
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