The best thing about the past...

The best thing about the past was that it was behind you. - P87

"You see, the absorption of a weaker nation and/or peoples by a stronger nation and/or peoples is not only inevitable, but desirable," Ito said, running a finger along his shapely mustache. "Without Japan, how could Korea have modernized? Who brought the trains, roads, power lines, progress? We are benevolent, as much as it is possible to be while governing so unruly a country. And yet these bastards don’t know what’s good for them." - P89

The consciousness of something wonderful had entered his heart, though he did not yet know what it was. - P93

Her powdered skin looked like...

Her powdered skin looked like polished marble, though it had once been as fresh and rosy as a spring dawn. Her black-lined eyes, sharp cheekbones, and painted red lips gave her a formidable air. - P87

The moment he finally made that connection, he saw her as other people saw her: a resplendent woman against whom all other women simply paled. - P87

ONE GRAY DAY IN EARLY FALL, L...

ONE GRAY DAY IN EARLY FALL, Luna finally broke her months of silence. The rain was falling softly, casting everything in indigo. - P80

Jade begged their maid Hesoon to tell them stories of her childhood in Jejudo, the magical southern island where there were trees without any branches and wild horses running freely under a snowcapped mountain. - P81

Hesoon said her mother and her four sisters were all seawomen who dove in the water to harvest abalones, holding their breath for two minutes at a time. - P81

She had come into the house as a child, and was now stepping out of its gates as a courtesan. - P84

[오늘의 한문장] Beasts of a Little Land

Lotus was given summer sunflowers because they were bright, wholesome, and happy. Luna got Dani’s favorite flowers, fall cosmoses, which she claimed were not much to look at singly but sublime when bunched together in a bouquet. - P80

[오늘의 한문장] 작은 땅의 야수들 (리커버 특별판)

두 소년의 눈이 잠시 마주쳤다. 미꾸라지는 미소를 지었다. 정호를 자기 소굴로 이끌면서, 또 정호의 돈을 훔치면서도 보여주었던 그 미소였다. 그는 작고 가느다란 올챙이 모양의 눈을 하고 누구에게나 쉽게 값싼 눈웃음을 지어 보이며 모두에게 의뭉스럽고 불쾌한 인상을 남기는 그런 아이였다. 정호는 미꾸라지의 실실대는 그 눈에다 호된 멍 자국을 남기고 싶은 욕구가 스멀스멀 피어오르는 걸 애써 억눌렀다. 하지만 그 닳아빠진 도시 소년이 자신에게 대놓고 거짓말을 하거나 일부러 자신을 해하려던 게 아니었음은 부인할 수 없었고, 지금도 도시에서 살아가기 위해 함께 뭉쳐야 할 필요성에 대해서 진실을 말하고 있는 게 분명했다. - <작은 땅의 야수들>, 김주혜 저/박소현 역 - 밀리의 서재
https://www.millie.co.kr/v3/bookDetail/9ccc4b99aefa406c - P111