You tried to play the game, okay? But they run the game. You don't run anything. That means you can't change anything. Not from the inside. When you got nothing, you got to change things from the outside.

Viet Thanh Nguyen
About This Quote

What he is saying is that you can't change the system from the inside. You have to change things from the outside. It really means that you have to work with the system and not against it. When you are a good person, everything falls into place.

Source: The Sympathizer

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More Quotes By Viet Thanh Nguyen
  1. As Hegel said, tragedy was not the conflict between right and wrong but right and right, a dilemma none of us who wanted to participate in history could escape. The major had the right to live, and I was right to kill him. Wasn't I?
  2. I believe our clever young man has intuited that while only the pursuit of happiness is promised to all Americans, unhappiness is guaranteed for many.
  3. This feat I also had no idea how to accomplish, but ignorance had never stopped me from taking action before.
  4. No one asks poor people if they want war.
  5. All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory.
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