It was moving for me to understand, at this inflection point in an immigrant’s American journey, that though my achievement was not itself unique, it had great meaning to Koreans. ---「Prologue_ A Gift of Freedom」

.I am at a loss to describe the utter terror of being thrust suddenly into a new environment not understanding one word spoken. Language was my connection to the world and the severing of the connection now constituted my disoriented existence. The loneliness of exile from a common language affected everything, ---「Summer of 1979, New York, and Youngstown」

My mother saw my budding love and created a ritual. Every day she picked me up from school, got me a snack at the pizzeria, and took me to the public library across the street for several hours before supper. She sat to read her book and left me to do as I wished. It was a great adventure to be let loose in there. ---「Reading」

The strict constraints of classical ballet technique gave untold satisfaction. There was a right way to execute each movement, from the alignment of the leg and arch of the foot to the tilt of the head and curve of the fingers. I thrived under the hawkish attention to each detail of the body’s discipline. ---「School of American Ballet」

The epiphany of stunned discovery even among familiar things was the experience I wanted to have over and over again. It was writing a paper about this Keats poem that hooked me on literary studies at Yale. My poetry professor read the paper I submitted and asked to see me after class. My heart sank?I knew what was coming and was prepared to be abashed. But it wasn’t what I thought. She wanted to see me to tell me I had written a good paper, one that was better than most of what was published in the field. And that my contributions in class were valuable. ---「College at Yale」

Malcolm, who was a very productive scholar, wrote every day. A mere page and a half each day without fail, no more and no less, he said. Working this way, slowly but surely, a page and a half at a time, in a month he invariably completed a chapter, and in nine months he had a book. ---「Graduate Study in Oxford」

I enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1999. I was hooked from the first day. Being in class made me feel wired with excitement. I couldn’t wait to read for class. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen in class. I found myself eager to speak in class. What was happening to me? I was far gone, head over heels, no turning back. I unabashedly loved law school and was totally engrossed. ---「Law at Harvard」

The advice Bill shared on research and writing is advice I live by and press on my own students. It was his version of what Malcolm told me in Oxford: write regularly without overly high expectations. Begin writing even when you don’t know all you should about your subject. Draft words you’re unsure about, and completely rewrite them as you learn more. Write, research, read, rewrite, repeat. Writing was a way to learn, not something that happens only at the end of learning. ---「Writing」

My good fortune continued in my selection the following year as a law clerk to Justice David Souter, then a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. A Supreme Court clerkship is without a doubt the most highly prized job that one can have as a recent law school graduate. A year inside that marble palace, as one of thirty-five young law clerks only one year out of law school, intimately enmeshed in the work of the Supreme Court was a heady experience to say the least. ---「Working」

In the fall of 2010, on the basis of my scholarly output in four years as an Assistant Professor, my senior colleagues voted tenure for me, and I was promoted to a tenured position as Professor of Law. ---「Harvard Law School 」

Rather than simply teach what the law is, we teach how―how to think about problems that don’t have clear answers. When our students graduate, their technical legal skills are unparalleled. ---「First and Foremost a Teacher」

The advice I most frequently give Korean students is that they should push themselves to seek opportunities to learn to do what makes them uncomfortable―whether it is speaking in public or writing. Like everything else, it takes practice―willing oneself to do it again and again until it becomes much easier, even enjoyable. ---「Advice to Young Korean Students」

I hope for young people to have opportunities to discover and pursue what they love?the ideas, activities, passions, and thoughts that make them fully human. They should follow their passions, not a preset track that is expected of them. We should not all do the same things. We should use our freedom to grow in diverse ways.