Memorable Quotes from When Life Gives You Tangerines

Life doesn’t always hand us lemons. Sometimes it gives us tangerines — smaller, easier to peel, slightly sweeter, but just as complex. They’re like the moments that aren’t completely bitter or sweet — just real. Like the quiet strength in heartbreak, the beauty of struggle, or the tender warmth of memories that sting a little.

The Korean drama When Life Gives You Tangerines captures this feeling without trying too hard. It doesn’t rush to fix life’s problems or sugarcoat pain. It just sits in it for a while. Through poetic lines and deeply honest dialogue, the drama gives voice to the thoughts we often keep buried.

These memorable quotes aren’t just meant to inspire. They’re here to sit with you to keep you company in your quiet, unspoken thoughts. These are life’s tangerines, handed to us one scene at a time.

Quotes from Korean Drama When Life Gives You Tangerines

1. “You always give me 120 things when you only have 100. How can you give me more?”
2. “There are no take backs in life. If your life and my life join together as one, we stick it out together whether we live or die.”
3. “A cocoon that doesn’t break open in time gets devoured by predators. Only the ones that break free quickly emerge as butterflies. You need to learn how to open the doors that are in your way.”
4. “I’d rather die earning a penny than die begging.”
5. “Life never allows us to truly savor these moments. Happiness comes right at you. Misfortune always creeps up from behind.”
6. “A young leaf can be torn by even a gentle rain.”
7. “I thought once you grew up, your hands and heart would naturally become calloused. But everything’s still too hot for me. I get burned every day, but it hurts every time. Am I the only fool in the world? Is there anyone else adulting just fine?”
8. “You should always take the drumsticks and do whatever you want in life. You need to live your life so you don’t grow resentful.”
9. “Even as I gently press my heart to soothe it down, the moon wanes, yet the young heart remains.”
10. “I’ve also had a dream for a long time. Being independent. Living an independent life is actually quite a feat.”
11. “If you keep pitying yourself and saying your life sucks, your life will really suck. If you think you’re only worth 100 won, who would think you’re worth 1,000 won? Stop pitying yourself and say something sweet to yourself so you can stand tall.”
12. “There was a time when people held their heads up. A time when people stayed true to their hearts. A time when we looked at each other, not our cell phones.”
13. “Just like that, I leaped from the nest. Like a bluebird soaring above a bare mountain, fluttering with excitement and brimming with confidence.”
14. “Respect, gratitude, and affection for one’s parents. Even ten billion wouldn’t be enough to buy these things. No money can pull out the peg you drive into your child’s heart.”
15. “A child definitely does what it saw growing up. I should’ve shown only precious things to my precious child.”
16. “When you’re struggling to breathe in the dark waters, you need to stay close to others to survive. Or fear will grip your heart, and you won’t make it. Go together with others. If you do, 100 miles will feel like ten. No one can live on their own.”
17. “Even when you’re old, you want to have a place in the world.”
18. “Rain may pour as if it would sweep everything away. But once the sun starts blazing again, life rises again, no matter what.”
19. “Your mind can’t weep if your body is weary. One day, life might get so tough that you feel like you can’t go on. Don’t just lie still. Struggle with all your might. Stomp on your blanket. Plow the field or even do odd jobs to earn some money. Tell yourself you won’t die and must survive, no matter what. Paddle your arms and legs like crazy. You’ll get through the dark waters and see the sky. You’ll be able to breathe again.”
20. “Mom, by mere coincidence, has lost immeasurable things. That’s why she fussed even more, believing that restless worry could prevent coincidences. Her relentless worry was tiresome. But it was the same relentless worry that saved me again. Just like that, she’s saved me time and again.”
21. “I swallowed their dreams and spread my wings, embracing my mom’s dream like a seed in my heart.”
22. “Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to save a single life.”
23. “Everyone has a dark side, after all.”
24. “The strongest wind is one that blows within one’s fist-sized heart. Nothing could withstand such wind.”
25. “I thought life went from spring to summer, fall, and then winter, but I was wrong. It sometimes feels like winter, sometimes like spring. I’ve had myriad spring days. I’ve had many sparkling moments.”
26. “Does romance pay the bills? Once they get hungry, they’ll start resenting each other.”
27. “A broken heart isn’t just a figure of speech. It actually hurts. My heart clenches painfully.”
28. “Whatever path we take, life is hard anyway. Be with someone you’d be happy to see each morning, so when life gives you tangerines, you wouldn’t be afraid to face the bitter, sweet and sour mix life has to offer.”
29. “With their lives full of catches, all they wanted was for their blazing summer sunshine to last.”
30. “Does everyone marry their most passionate love? The size of the love wasn’t different. Its temperature was. It was the temperature that let me be myself. I’ve found my prince.”
31. “In the end, we all end up living as orphans. Even though parents die first, their children carry on. Life goes on and on.”
32. “If you keep hammering tough shells, maybe they’ll seem unaffected at first, but eventually, you will start to see cracks on the surface. Don’t show your children favouritism ever. Cause they will always remember.”
33. “I do love you deeply. But I love myself deeply, too.”
34. “When one door closes, another is bound to creak open.”
35. “I found happiness in my own way. there was sunshine in my life too. i’ve had so many picture-perfect moments. i just want you to acknowledge that my life was worthwhile too.”
36. “The pain of losing a parent cuts deeper as life goes on, but the pain of losing a child is etched in the deepest part of your heart.”
37. “A kind-hearted mother gave birth to a kind-hearted daughter. They would always adore each other and break each other’s heart.”
38. “It’s an odd thing. Parents dwell on what they couldn’t give. And children dwell on what they couldn’t get.”
39. “Any other grief fades with time and becomes numb. But when the grief is too deep, I end up burying it.”
40. “You’re like a Christmas tree. A tree just does its job no matter where you put it. Whether a Christmas tree is in a room in a basement or a corner store no one visits, it’s always sparkling. It always makes your heart pound.”
41. “I’m the older sister, the eldest child, the damn pillar of the family.”
42. “I heard vanity stems from emptiness. Maybe I want to buy so much because I grew up poor. Maybe it’s a deeply rooted issue.”
43. “They say you need countless lifetimes of fate to meet even once in this life. If you miss it when it brushes past, that’s the end.”
44. “One day, life might get so tough that you feel like you can’t go on. Don’t just lie still, struggle with all your might. Tell yourself you won’t die and must survive, no matter what. You’ll be able to breathe again.”
45. “For others, it was as though I was writing a love letter. I was mindful of every word that came out of my mouth. But I treated the one I owed my whole life to as harshly as if I was writing on scrap paper.”
46. “You have to open the faucet fully to fill the bucket. You get nowhere in life trying to mend every leaking hole.”
47. “In life, you never know what will happen unless you go for it.”
48. “None of us have fully grown up. But every time our hearts felt growing pains, we all grew a little.”
49. “Whether this grand first love would become a love song or a breakup song, I didn’t know back then. I was just blazing with love without any shame.”
50. “One day, life might get so tough that you feel like you can’t go on… You’ll be able to breathe again.”

When Life Gives You Tangerines doesn’t pretend to fix anything. It just acknowledges how hard life can be and how we keep going anyway. These quotes sit in that space between struggle and acceptance. Some will comfort you. Others will confront you. And some might just sit with you for a while — like tangerines, small but rich with meaning.

Save the ones that speak to your heart. Share them with someone who might need a quiet reminder that life is hard — but it’s still beautiful.