Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea
32 quotes
"Killers aren't always assassins. Sometimes, they don't even have blood on their hands."
"We cannot be too cautious, Hannelore. Just because someone knocks on the door doesn't mean you have to open it. Sometimes, sweet girl, there are wolves at the door. If we are not careful, they might eat us."
"I didn't need his criticism. I carried enough guilt on my own. I had done everything wrong. I had the highest marks in school but couldn't master common sense."
"What did I want? I wanted the war to be over so I could ask her out."
"Just when you think this war has taken everything you loved, you meet someone and realize that somehow you still have more to give."
"The soldier stared at Ingrid. His silence was elastic, slowly curling a rope around her neck."
"Revolting. If women were so careless to become pregnant at such a time, let women sort it out."
"Everyone has a price,” she said.“But clearly not everyone has a soul,"
"I knew the legends of the birds. Seagulls were the souls of dead soldiers. Owls were the souls of women. Doves were the recently departed souls of unmarried girls.Was there a bird for the souls of people like me?"
"Every nation has hidden history, countless stories preserved only by those who experienced them. Stories of war are often read and discussed worldwide by readers whose nations stood on opposite sides during battle. History divided us, but through reading we can be united in story, study, and remembrance. Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past."
"War had bled color from everything, leaving nothing but a storm of gray."
"What had human beings become? Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us?"
"My war had been so long, my winter so cold. But i had made it home. And for the first time in a long time, i was not afraid."
"I wanted to stay locked away from the pain and destruction. I didn't want to be strong. I didn't want to be the 'smart girl'. I was so very tired. I just wanted it all to be over."
"Mother was anchor. Mother was comfort. Mother was home. A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean. Some boats eventually floated ashore. And some boats, like me, seemed to float farther and farther from land."
"But unlike Mama, I would not go to heaven. My secrets padlocked the gates. I'd be a torn kite stuck in the dead branches of a tree, unable to fly."
"War is catastrophe. It breaks families in irretrievable pieces. But those who are gone are not necessarily lost."
"Your daughter, your sister. She is salt to the sea,"
"How foolish to believe we are more powerful than the sea or the sky."
"There's a saying, 'Death hath a thousand doors to let out life; I shall find one.' But the children. That's what I struggle with.' He shook his head. 'Why the children?"
"It's safer for you to stay with the others,' he said.Safer? He didn't realize.I was already dead."
"Mother was comfort. Mother was home. A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean. Some boats eventually floated ashore. And some boats, like me, seemed to float farther and farther from land"
"No Son [. . .] Not a traitor to your country. Much worse. A traitor to your soul."
"Death, it seems, has a mind of its own."
"My arm began moving, turning the invisible crank of Death's music box. Somewhere inside, I didn't want the melody to end."