Quotes from Chains

Laurie Halse Anderson ·  316 pages

Rating: (37.9K votes)


“A scar is a sign of strength. . .the sign of a survivor.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“She cannot chain my soul. Yes, she could hurt me. She'd already done so...I would bleed, or not. Scar, or not. Live, or not. But she could not hurt my soul, not unless I gave it to her.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Didn't help to ponder things that were forever gone. It only made a body restless and fill up with bees, all wanting to sting something.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“I wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after page”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Melancholy held me hostage, and the bees built a hive of sadness in my soul.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains



“This is not our fight', the old man said. 'British or American, that is not the choice. You must choose your own side, find your road through the valley of darkness that will lead you to the river Jordan. . . Look hard for your river Jordan, my child. You'll find it.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Momma said that ghosts couldn't move over water. That's why Africans got trapped in the Americas.. They kept moving us over the water, stealing us away from our ghosts and ancestors, who cried salty rivers into the sand. That's where Momma was now, wailing at the water's edge, while her girls were pulled out of sight under white sails that cracked in the wind.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“It made me strong.I took a step back, near my whole self in the mirror.I pushed back my shoulders and raised my chin, my back straight as an arrow.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Gossip is the foul smell from the Devil's backside.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“It was like looking at a knot, knowing it was a knot, but not knowing how to untie it. I had no map for this life.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains



“The best time to talk to ghosts is just before the sun comes up. That's when they can hear us true.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Flames curled out of all the windows next door. The rooftop beyond that was a lake of fire. Every building in sight was burning. The air was filled with crackling and popping sounds, with shrieks and screams coming from the street below.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“Has she received any letters from Lockton?'
The question hit me like a bucket of cold water. 'You asking me to spy again?'
'Listen,' he started, 'Our freedom-'
I did not let him continue. 'You are blind. They don't want us free. They just want liberty for themselves.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“The world turns upside down every day.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains



“This is not our fight,' the old man said. 'British or American, that is not the choice. You must choose your own side, find your road through the valley of darkness that will lead you to the river Jordan.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“It would have eased her mind if I thanked her for wanting to buy me away from Madam. I tried to be grateful but could not. A body does not like being bought and sold like a basket of eggs, even if the person who cracks the shells is kind.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“I thought of all the ancestors waiting at the water's edge for their stolen children to come home. Waiting and waiting and waiting . . .”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


“How could men who liked cats be bad?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Chains


About the author

Laurie Halse Anderson
Born place: in Potsdam, New York, The United States
Born date October 23, 2018
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Popular quotes

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