Vanessa Woods · 278 pages
Rating: (1.7K votes)
“We do terrible things to the ones we love. We cheat and lie and betray them, for thirty pieces of silver or our own selfish hearts. The only way love endures is because of one simple gift. Forgiveness.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“When I talk to people about what makes us human, some people say it’s our tears. Because we are the only ones who weep, only we can feel true sorrow. When I hear this, I remember Isiro’s face, her anguished eyes as she cried for Mikeno, how she screamed at the keepers with her teeth bared and pushed at the poles. How she dashed back to his body and dug her fingers into his chest as if the strength of her grip could bring him back. There is sorrow without tears. Of course there is.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“It is a cumulative tragedy, the same tragedy that blights the entire country. With so many dead bodies, how do you begin to rebuild? How do you trust enough to hope? And how do you hold on to life when it no longer seems worth living?”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“If there are those you love, whoever or wherever you are, hold them. Find them and hold them as tightly as you can. Resist their squirming and impatience and uncomfortable laughter, and just feel their heart throbbing against yours. Give thanks that for this moment, for this one precious moment, they are here, they are with you, and they know they are utterly, completely, entirely loved.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“When Joseph Conrad saw how Europeans behaved in Congo in 1890, he described them as “reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage…To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe.” More than a hundred years later, not much has changed.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“There is something in the eyes of a bonobo that you don’t see in those of a tiger or a shark. They are human eyes, but not the cautious glimpse of a stranger you pass on a city street, or the pretended interest of a shrink you’re paying $300 an hour. Or someone you think you recognize but don’t. The eyes of a bonobo are the eyes of your best friend or a lover or a priest. They see into you. They see nothing else. They invite confession.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“The power of sadness has always amazed me.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“The Chinese say that love is balance. He is the water to my fire.The chimpanzee to my bonobo. And when I am mired in life’s ugliness, when I can see only what’s decaying both inside and outside my own head, he is the blindness I need, the mindless faith in happy endings.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
“Claudine tells me there was fluid around Bolombe’s heart. That the stress of his capture was too much. I always thought hearts were broken, but apparently they drown.”
― Vanessa Woods, quote from Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
Vanessa Woods
Born place: in Australia
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“Yes?" she asked, eyeing me guardedly.
I struck out a hand and said "Shake."
Arra stared at the hand, then into my unfocused eyes. "One good fight doesn't make you a warrior," she said.
"Shake!" I repeated angrily.
"And if I don't?" she asked.
"I'll get back up on the bars and fight you till you do," I growled.
Arra studied me at length, then nodded and took my hand. "Power to you, Darren Shan," she said gruffly.
"Power," I repeated weakly, then fainted into her arms and knew no more till I came to in my hammock the next night.”
― Darren Shan, quote from Vampire Mountain
“It is widely believed that the snails did not even know they overthrew the shiners, so nonexistent was the resistance," said Howard.”
― Suzanne Collins, quote from Gregor and the Marks of Secret
“I’m sorry, Shiloh,” I whisper, over and over, both hands on him so’s he won’t try to get up. The blood’s just pouring from a rip in his ear. “I’m so sorry! Jesus help me, I didn’t know Bakers’ dog could leap that fence.” When we get to the bottom of the lane, instead of going up the road toward Judd’s place, Dad turns left toward Friendly, and halfway around the first curve, he pulls in Doc Murphy’s driveway. Light’s still on in a window, but I think old doc was in bed, ’cause he come to the door in his pajamas. “Ray Preston?” he says when he sees Dad. “I sure am sorry to bother you this hour of the night,” Dad says, “but I got a dog here hurt bad, and if you could take a look at him, see if he can be saved, I’d be much obliged. We’ll pay. . . .” “I’m no vet,” says Doc Murphy, but he’s already standing aside, holding the screen open with one hand so we can carry Shiloh in. The doc’s a short man, round belly, don’t seem to practice what he preaches about eating right, but he’s got a kind heart, and he lays out some newspapers on his kitchen table.”
― Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, quote from Shiloh
“Killian wasn't dead. He just dressed like it.”
― Stacey Kade, quote from The Ghost and the Goth
“Please, Morpheus,” I beg upon hearing Jeb stir in the background. “Ah, but those delectable words,” Morpheus says with a provocative smirk, “those are always in the fantasy.” I glare at him. “You’re unbelievable.” “And that sentiment is reserved for the end.”
― A.G. Howard, quote from Unhinged
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