Lee Eo-ryeong's words, the second story
May the words that left me be reborn in you
A thousand words, sentences that squeeze through the cracks of thought, and a crystallization of eons of time.

The second volume of "Lee Eo-ryeong's Words," a selection of the "essence of words" from hundreds of works by Lee Eo-ryeong, a leading intellectual of our time, has been published.
Volume 2 contains new famous quotes, including unpublished lectures that were not included in Volume 1.
Before he died, he said, “I hope that through this one book, future readers can easily understand the intellectual explorations I have been on throughout my life,” and he wanted to leave behind a book that would be like a beacon of light for future generations who might be lost and wandering in the world he has left behind.
『Lee Eo-ryeong's Words』 is Lee Eo-ryeong's last work and intellectual legacy, completed after years of planning and editing in accordance with his will.

As Kang In-sook, who is in charge of the Lee Eo-ryeong Memorial Foundation, hinted in the preface to Volume 1, Volume 2 of 『Lee Eo-ryeong's Words』 was planned from early on.
It is because there are so many sentences that awaken our minds and touch our hearts that it is difficult to compile Lee Eo-ryeong's 88-year history into a single volume.
In particular, in Volume 2 of 『Lee Eo-ryeong's Words』, sentences were selected from works published after his death in 2022.
“I talk a lot during my lifetime.
For me, that's breathing.
Lee Eo-ryeong, who said, “If intellectuals don’t breathe, they will die,” left behind words of life, like breathing, until his last moments.
If Volume 1 of 『Lee Eo-ryeong's Words』 suggested the direction toward 'creation', which he had emphasized throughout his life, Volume 2 delves deeply into the gap between life, which constitutes everyday life, and death, which is the fate of human beings, focusing on 'life', which Lee Eo-ryeong had considered as his hope for the future.

No man is a perfect island.
I am not an island alone.
No matter how much we try to isolate ourselves, humans are connected to each other.
It's not an island.
I am part of the continent.
No matter how small a piece of sand or dirt is, it is connected to a vast continent.
(…) When someone dies, it means that the sand and soil within my continent are swept away into the sea.
His suffering is not unrelated to mine, and his life flows from the same spring as mine.
--- p.15

Think with your head.
Let go of your own thoughts, why do you want to borrow someone else's?
Just changing these habits can change the world.
You are all geniuses, and you all hold truly precious jewels in your hearts.
Don't forget this.
Besides, how could I have survived until now without it?
--- p.38

When a single leaf sways, we feel our life.
I think of the rhythm of life, so blue and so fresh.
Even on gloomy and sad days, looking at the new green leaves sprouting makes my heart ache with the desire to live.
--- p.95

A single millstone cannot do its job.
When two stones rub against each other, hard grains become soft powder.
Generations also imitate the law of the millstone.
The older generation is a fixed millstone, and the younger generation is another millstone that is constantly turning and moving on top of it.
In that friction, culture becomes fine powder that we can eat.
--- p.150

The crisis of modern man arises not when he works, but when he stops working.
It is the time when one returns to oneself.
When it's time to leave work, we are released from our chairs and paperwork at work.
The things that held us back, the things that commanded us endlessly, will stop.
Machines, all tools, automatically and quickly recover their objectivity when not in use.
That is why shields and swords are only weapons when fighting, and in times of peace, they are decorations on the wall, like sculptures.
However, even when human work is over, human beings do not immediately regain their humanity from instrumental existence.
When most people are away from work, they drink, hang out at nightclubs, or loiter in dark alleys.
Because they are afraid of meeting their own ego.
--- p.169

Among animals, humans are born the most immature.
Other animals walk and find food on their own as soon as they are born.
However, humans can barely stand up and learn to walk after a year of being born.
It takes at least three years for a child to leave their parents and learn to use a spoon and toilet independently.
We were born into this world and for three years we could not live without our parents' eyes for even a moment.
Therefore, even if it is not an ethics of filial piety, it is considered natural to repay the love of parents who have provided absolute help for three years with three years of mourning.
Even from today's commercial perspective, where everything is calculated as a 'give and take' transaction, this logic would be reasonable.
--- p.202

A duck floating on water does not know the depth of the water.
Those who only float on the surface of life do not know the depth of life.
Only an animal that knows how to fall into water knows the depth of water, and only a human being who has experienced frustration in life knows the depth of life.
--- p.264

Creation is (so) lonely, unnoticed, and always having to be alone.
Don't be afraid of isolation.
Even if everyone laughs at you, if it is the path of creation and the future path chosen by your passion, you must boldly jump into it.
Isn't this life one and only? (…) Each and every one of you is unique.
Same face, same height.
There is no one on this planet with the same voice.
You are all complete beings.
--- p.284

The most important things in a human life are birth and death.
What could possibly have more meaning than the beginning of life and the end of that life?
Yet we cannot remember our birth and cannot speak of our own death.

--- p.311