Top 60 Cho Nam-Joo Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “While offenders were in fear of losing a small part of their privilege, the victims were running the risk of losing everything.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

2. “The world wants our uterus to be drug-free. Like sacred grounds in a virgin forest.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

3. “The world had changed a great deal, but the little rules, contracts and customs had not, which meant the world hadn’t actually changed at all.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

4. “How can you say something so backward in this day and age? Jiyoung, don’t stay out of trouble. Run wild! Run wild, you hear me?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

5. “The fact that they have families and parents,” Eunsil retorted, “is why they shouldn’t do these things, not why we should forgive them.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

6. “Do laws and institutions change values, or do values drive laws and institutions?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

7. “Jiyoung felt as though her heart was filled with snow: replete yet airy, cozy yet cold. She was resolved to handle this next phase well, to keep it less challenging, demoralizing, or exhausting like her boyfriend said, but at the same time running as wild as her mother hoped she would.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

8. “I’m putting my youth, health, job, colleagues, social networks, career plans and future on the line. No wonder all I can think about are the things I’m giving up. But what about you? What do you lose by gaining a child?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

9. “Her boss grumbled, “This is why we don’t hire women.” She replied, “Women don’t stay because you make it impossible for us to stay.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

10. “The world had changed a great deal, but the little rules, contracts, and customs had not, which meant the world hadn’t actually changed at all. She mulled over Daehyun’s idea that registering as legally married changes the way you feel about each other. Do laws and institutions change values, or do values drive laws and institutions?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

11. “He offered no baseless optimism, impetuous encouragement, or the usual blaming. He let her be, helped where he could, and bought her a drink if the results were bad.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

12. “Conscientiously and calmly, she was searching for a way out that didn’t exist to begin with. Baffled and ready to give up, she was told to try, try again; to walk through walls if it came to that.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

13. “Looking at the moments and scenes in Kim Jiyoung’s life that she chose to share in our sessions, I realise that I may have diagnosed her hastily. I’m not saying I was wrong, only that I’ve come to realise there is a world that I wasn’t aware of.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

14. “See this here? This is Seoul. It’s just a dot. A dot. We all of us are living in this tiny, cramped dot. You may not get to see all of it, but I want you to know: it’s a wide world out there.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

15. “Customers thought the right to harass young women came with their purchase.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

16. “Her career potential and areas of interest were being limited just because she had a baby.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

17. “But is it right to prioritise short-term efficiency and balance sheets? Who’ll be the last ones standing in a world with these priorities, and will they be happy?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

18. “Just as putting the care of your child in another’s hands doesn’t mean you don’t love your child, quitting and looking after your child doesn’t mean you have no passion for your career.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

19. “The young laborers worked without adequate sleep, rest or food, thinking that was what working entailed for everyone.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

20. “According to reports, more than half of the women who quit their jobs are unable to find new work for more than five years.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

21. “People who pop a painkiller at the smallest hint of a migraine, or who need anaesthetic cream to remove a mole, demand that women giving birth should gladly endure the pain, exhaustion, and mortal fear. As if that’s maternal love. This idea of “maternal love” is spreading like religious dogma. Accept Maternal Love as your Lord and Savior, for the Kingdom is near!”

— Cho Nam-Joo

22. “Jiyoung quit the cram school. For a long time, she couldn’t go near a bus stop after dark. She stopped smiling at people, and did not make eye contact with strangers. She was afraid of all men, and she screamed sometimes when she ran into her younger brother in the stairwell. But she kept thinking about what the woman said. Not my fault. There’s far more great guys out there. If the woman hadn’t said that to her, Jiyoung would have lived in fear for even longer.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

23. “No sheer black tights, and no socks allowed. No sneakers, only dress shoes. Walking around in just tights and dress shoes in the middle of winter, Jiyoung’s feet got so cold that she wanted to cry.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

24. “Ridiculous, isn’t it? ‘Smart women are taxing,’ they say. And when she passes the law exam all on her own without any help from the college? They fly banners and toot horns! ‘Proud alumni!”

— Cho Nam-Joo

25. “Frankly, it’s only natural that men remain unaware unless they encounter special circumstances as I have, because men are not the main players in childbirth and childcare.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

26. “She couldn’t win: exercising all the rights and utilizing the benefits made her a freeloader, and fighting tooth and nail to avoid the accusation made things harder for colleagues in a similar situation.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

27. “Entering high school meant a sudden expansion of her geographical and social world, which taught her that it was a wide world out there filled with perverts.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

28. “The combination of her tone, expression, angle of head tilt, position of shoulders, and her breathing sent them a message that was hard to summarize in one sentence, but, if Jiyoung tried anyway, it went something like this: How dare you try to take something that belongs to my precious grandson!”

— Cho Nam-Joo

29. “The more their mother praised, the more impossible it became for Jiyoung to complain.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

30. “Every field has its technological advances and evolves in the direction that reduces the amount of physical labour required, but people are particularly reluctant to admit that the same is true for domestic labor.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

31. “Jiyoung became different people from time to time. Some of them were living, others were dead, all of them women she knew. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t a joke or a prank. Truly, flawlessly, completely, she became that person.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

32. “Jiyoung was standing in the middle of a labyrinth. Conscientiously and calmly, she was searching for a way out that didn’t exist to begin with.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

33. “Her nerves were frayed and sensitive only to the words ‘We regret to inform you’; no other words or censure could hurt her.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

34. “Since she became a full-time housewife, she often noticed that there was a polarised attitude regarding domestic labour. Some demeaned it as ‘bumming around at home’, while others glorified it as ‘work that sustains life’, but none tried to calculate its monetary value. Probably because the moment you put a price on something, someone has to pay.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

35. “Girls don’t need special treatment – they just want the same responsibilities and opportunities. Instead of choosing the lunch menu, they want to run for president.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

36. “The woman said she was glad Jiyoung was fine, and suddenly declared, “It’s not your fault.” There were far too many crazy men in the world, she’d had her share of run-ins with these people, and the problem was with them, not with the women. Hearing this made Jiyoung cry. Trying to swallow her tears, she couldn’t say anything back. “But you know what?” the woman added. “There’s far more great guys out there.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

37. “Jiyoung grew up being told to be cautious, to dress conservatively, to be “ladylike.” That it’s your job to avoid dangerous places, times of day and people. It’s your fault for not noticing and not avoiding.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

38. “Number one on the roster was a boy, everything began with the boys, and that felt like the right, natural thing. Boys lined up first, boys led every procession no matter where they were header, boys gave their presentations first, and boys had their homework checked first while the girls quietly waited their turn, bored, sometimes relieved that they weren’t going first, but never thinking this was a strange practice.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

39. “Seungyeon always said girls don’t need special treatment – they just want the same responsibilities and opportunities.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

40. “She couldn’t picture herself at the company ten years down the road and resigned after some thought. Her boss grumbled, “This is why we don’t hire women.” She replied, “Women don’t stay because you make it impossible for us to stay.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

41. “Even the usually reasonable, sane ones verbally degrade women – even the women they have feelings for.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

42. “I don’t understand. Half the population in the world goes through this every month. If a pharmaceutical company were to develop an effective pill specifically for menstrual cramps, not the ‘pain medication’ that makes you sick, they would make a fortune.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

43. “Jiyoung felt the same way. What the teacher was doing was wrong. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong about it, but she knew that something was unjust and frustrating. But Jiyoung had a hard time voicing her complaints because she wasn’t used to expressing her thoughts.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

44. “Many people don’t want to accept the evident fact that all difficulties in life – stagnant economy, high cost of living, adverse labor environment and so on – affect both men and women equally.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

45. “Aren’t you supposed to sign a contract and receive benefits after two years?” “Oh, boy. You don’t know anything about part-time work, do you? There are no part-time jobs where you sign a contract and get benefits. Start work tomorrow. Yes, sir. It’s like that. You get a verbal agreement, start working, they pay you sometimes through your bank account, sometimes through your husband’s bank account.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

46. “Kim Ji-young le dijo que lo que le faltaba no era tiempo, sino tranquilidad.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

47. “The alums are all guys. How many women have you seen at the job fairs?” The scales fell from Jiyoung’s eyes, and finally she saw. Hyejin was right. Jiyoung had made it to most job fairs or “meet the alums” events since the beginning of senior year, and she hadn’t seen a single female alumnus, at least not at any of the events she attended.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

48. “Help out? What is it with you and ‘helping out?’ You’re going to ‘help out’ with chores. ‘Help out’ with raising our baby. ‘Help out’ with finding me a new job. Isn’t this your house, too? Your home? Your child? And if I work, don’t you spend my pay, too? Why do you keep saying ‘help out’ like you’re volunteering to pitch in on someone else’s work?”

— Cho Nam-Joo

49. “Jiyoung felt she was a rock, small but heavy and unyielding, holding down her mother’s long skirt train. This made her sad. Her mother saw this and warmly swept back her daughter’s unkempt hair.”

— Cho Nam-Joo

50. “She waved him off saying she was too old to learn new things. She was thirty-five at the time.”

— Cho Nam-Joo