Top 35 June Hur Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Revenge begets revenge; the anger is unquenchable. We become the monsters we are trying to punish. Justice, however, brings closure, and that is what I want. It can only be achieved by remaining sober-minded and rational. And, in the end, it is not my place to punish the prince. It is the king’s, and only the king’s. All I can do is find enough evidence to make the truth undeniable.”

— June Hur

2. “Some dreams, I’d learned, were meant to fade away. And to let go of them didn’t mean to let go of myself, but to release the life I’d imagined I wanted. The loss had grieved me at first, but in its fading away-slowly, very slowly-a new dream had bloomed.”

— June Hur

3. “Everyone must choose the paths they will walk on. And when you choose, remember to count the cost.”

— June Hur

4. “You were my sister for too short a time. So read these pages in the afterworld, and when we greet each other again, remember to call me “Older Brother.”

— June Hur

5. “A life among servants had taught me that no human being wished to remain silent and misunderstood.”

— June Hur

6. “We are women,” she continued, “and nothing short of death stops us from doing precisely what we wish to do. That is what the laws and restrictions binding our lives breed: determination and cunning. The likes of you will not obey me. You will tell me that you intend to be as still as a rock, and yet I know you will dart from shadow to shadow like a fish.”

— June Hur

7. “The moment I chose to help you, I realized something.” Gahee finally lifted her gaze up to mine, and it was like seeing the faintest flicker of light in the darkness of night. “Doing what is right, it is so utterly terrifying. And yet so freeing.”

— June Hur

8. “But there are two types of people,” Inspector Yu added, his voice quiet. “Those that retreat and huddle together like frightened birds, overwhelmed by the darkness of this kingdom, and those that grasp their freedom to struggle on the behalf of others, their eyes fixed on a great light that will always shine for those who seek it.”

— June Hur

9. “I would not love, unless I was loved first and loved the most. I would be nothing at all, if I could not be first.”

— June Hur

10. “We must learn to embrace the new seasons in our lives. There is a season to gain, a season to lose; a season for peace, a season for war; a season to laugh, a season to mourn, and to betray.”

— June Hur

11. “Those that call themselves ‘nobody’ are always people of significance. Or a person hiding a secret.”

— June Hur

12. “Now I realized why I’d so struggled to understand this man. It was because I’d imagined evil as being made of horns, spikes, and sharp teeth, not glowing with the appearance of goodness and respectability.”

— June Hur

13. “The dead are gone, yet we live in their shadows.”

— June Hur

14. “There is one lesson all who enter the capital will learn: evil comes from the unfulfilled need for significance.”

— June Hur

15. “Sometimes monsters are born, but sometimes they are made by an accumulation of hurt.”

— June Hur

16. “Opening each door, I discovered porcelain pots of color, hair ornaments, and a brush with strands of hair in it. Lady O’s hair. I reached for one and the moment I pulled a strand free, it struck me how transient life was – one night a woman was brushing her hair, the next night she was dead.”

— June Hur

17. “He moved my hand into his, and as our fingers intertwined, it occurred to me that love wasn’t all that I’d feared it to be. I had imagined that it was a wildfire that incinerated everything in its path. Instead, it felt as ordinary and extraordinary as waking up to a new day.”

— June Hur

18. “When we’re together... it’s as though we are like water in the river, my thoughts flowing through yours, yours through mine.”

— June Hur

19. “Revenge begets revenge; the anger is unquenchable. We become the monsters we are trying to punish. Justice, however, brings closure, and that is what I want. It can only be achieved by remaining sober-minded and rational.”

— June Hur

20. “I was suddenly filled with the urge to burst into laughter. Laughter over the terrifyingly ridiculous situation I’d found myself, and from the sheer sense of wonder that the darkest time had brought a friend into my life.”

— June Hur

21. “Surely, whatever Lady O had hidden, it would peel off the skin of lies and reveal what lay within. I was tired of chasing after an elusive truth, tired of being surrounded by suspicion and speculations, tired of this investigation that seemed to choke up in smoke everything it touched.”

— June Hur

22. “It wasn’t as scary as I thought, death. It was just leaving one place to go to another.”

— June Hur

23. “Your life isn’t meant to be used up to fulfill another person’s dream. That’s what Mother told me. And I’m sure if Father had known your true feelings he would have said the same.”

— June Hur

24. “There is only you.” His words caressed me, winding themselves around my soul. “There will only ever be you. I promise, Hyeon-ah.”

— June Hur

25. “Everyone here in the bureau is too quick to judge, and it will end in the death of someone innocent. But you, you are an eavesdropper. The only person in this bureau who truly listens.”

— June Hur

26. “Sometimes what fathers think is for our good, is not something we desire at all.”

— June Hur

27. “My ears burned. This was the fate for all women. Yet the way Maewol spat it out made it sound like something outrageous.”

— June Hur

28. “When we believe, we hold on to what we think is true. But when we have a conviction, that truth holds on to us.”

— June Hur

29. “This is the consequence of the clash of old and new. We must prepare our hearts, all of us. No matter which side wins, we will all be heartbroken.”

— June Hur

30. “What is that sixteen compared to the number of girls taken by the Joseon government? Every three years they capture girls to send as tribute to the Ming court. Hundreds of them. Girls disappear every day. They are sacrificed for a greater good.”

— June Hur

31. “Unmindful of the killings, a lone bird called out a blissful song, the welcoming of a new day.”

— June Hur

32. “The first time I met you, I don’t think I quite knew,” he said softly, looking back at me, “what a surprise you would become to me.”

— June Hur

33. “It was strange how sadness reached so deeply into my chest for a man I had never spoken to.”

— June Hur

34. “There is a saying among us who work there: Palace secrets must never get out, or else inevitably there will be blood.”

— June Hur

35. “Never had I thought of the dead Lady O as someone who had been precious, as my own family was precious to me.”

— June Hur

36. “He stared, a line forming between his brows. Then with a shake of his head, he murmured, “You must have been a general in your past life. A most irritatingly stubborn one.”

— June Hur

37. “Girls disappear every day. Jeju women, especially, disappear all the time once they are older. They think they are free to act without restrictions and so venture out into the world. They disappear to live with their sweethearts, to hide their pregnancies, to sell themselves, to become gisaengs. The reasons are endless.”

— June Hur