Quotes from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom

Felix Abt ·  320 pages

Rating: (138 votes)


“When does a wife know that her husband is cheating on her? When he starts complaining about the lack of water as he wants to have two showers a week.” This was one of the many popular jokes.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom


“Yet skirts are getting shorter, and more women can be seen in Pyongyang now with high heels. The change must be shocking to people in the more conservative countryside, where high heels continue to be associated with prostitution.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom


“It’s a little-known story that bicycles played a big role in propping up North Korea’s informal and privatized economy, because they helped small traders shuffle goods between the manufacturers and markets. These bicycle riders, in turn, became an informal merchant class.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom


“The husband beats his wife,” she responded. “The neighbors don’t care, and even if they complained, the man would not change.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom


“One time an employee brought cakes to the office to celebrate her daughter’s passing the exam, whereas another coincidentally fell “sick” when her child repeatedly failed the entrance exams.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom



“To my amusement, a traffic sign prohibited ox carts from passing by revolutionary sites, out of fear that the oxen would defecate close to these venerated monuments. These strong, resilient, and patient animals weren’t merely shuffling goods along roads, but because of the limited mechanization and shortage of fuel they also plowed rice paddy fields. I got the impression that, unlike in China and Vietnam where every year is the year of a different animal, in North Korea every year was the Year of the Oxen.”
― Felix Abt, quote from A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom


Video

About the author

Felix Abt
Born place: in Switzerland
Born date January 15, 2018
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“You don't seem to understand me,' she said. 'The last thing I want is to start over. You can't wake up something that's dead and buried.”
― Erick Setiawan, quote from Of Bees and Mist


“Brynne was naturally submissive to me. She accepted what I wanted to give her— the Dom in me had found my muse, and it was just one more reason we were perfect together.”
― Raine Miller, quote from All In


“Nor did I need anyone's pity, but I would accept it with grace, because I have been well trained. Rudeness was a sign of weakness. Grace stemmed from power, the powere to accept anything and move on.”
― Robin Wasserman, quote from Skinned


“All I ever wanted in my life was to be treated as an individual. I have succeeded, to some extent. At least I'm sure that in the Lord's eyes, I am an individual. I am not a "colored" person, or a "Negro" person, in God's eyes. I am just me! The Lord won't hold it against me that I'm colored because He made me that way! He thinks I am beautiful! And so do I, even with all my wrinkles! I am beautiful!

-Bessie”
― Sarah L. Delany, quote from Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years


“Och det har till sist börjat gå upp för mig som en aning -: det är kanske icke meningen att man skall förstå livet. Allt detta raseri att förklara och förstå, all denna sanningsjakt är kanske en avväg.”
― Hjalmar Söderberg, quote from Doctor Glas


Interesting books

Tall, Tatted and Tempting
(25.8K)
Something About You
(51.7K)
Something About You
by Julie James
Bloom
(13.3K)
Bloom
by Elizabeth Scott
Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber
(9.4K)
Under the Jolly Roge...
by L.A. Meyer
Rain of Gold
(5.8K)
Rain of Gold
by Victor Villaseñor
The End of Your Life Book Club
(41.9K)
The End of Your Life...
by Will Schwalbe

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.