Quotes from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

“In my fantasies, I was always caught up in heroic struggles, and I saw myself saving lives, sacrificing myself for others. I had far loftier ambitions than mere romance.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

“If we were stopped and questioned, I always smiled at the officers, and they always smiled back. In my heart, I was seeing them dead. But on my face, I was an open invitation. If you are only a girl, this is how you destroy your enemies.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

“Every day now, I found a chance to slip outside and leave food under the fence. I knew it was a drop in the ocean, but I could not do nothing.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

“If you are only a girl, this is how you destroy your enemies.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

“Bazen Polonya'daki nefret miktarını düşündüğümde çimenlerin hala yeşil kalabilmelerine, ağaçların hala dallarını gökyüzüne uzatabilmelerine şaşırıyordum.
Ama uzatıyorlardı. Savaşla ilgili en büyük ironilerden biri de bu, insanın inana sırt çevirdiği yerde bile doğa başkaldırmıyordu. Çok güzel bahar günlerinde geçen kabuslar yaşıyordum: Kuşlar daldan dala atlayıp böcekleri avlarken, diğer kuşlarla cilveleşirken diğer tarafta yerde, çamur içinde küçük çocuklar ölü yatıyorlardı.”
― Irene Gut Opdyke, quote from In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

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“I gazed around the room and my eyes stopped dead on a little boy standing in the corner. This was a particularly eerie doll. Life-sized and blond-haired and blue-eyed. I saw a little Nazi boy, pockets probably stuffed with scissors and retractable blades. My grandfather on my mother's side was rumored to be half Jewish, which practically makes me Jerry Seinfeld's brother, and thus wary of blond German boys with their hands out of sight.”
― Augusten Burroughs, quote from Possible Side Effects

“To a Young Poet

Time cannot break the bird's wing from the bird.
Bird and wing together
Go down, one feather.

No thing that ever flew,
Not the lark, not you,
Can die as others do.”
― Edna St. Vincent Millay, quote from Collected Poems

“Was my life always to be like this? I wondered.Was it going to go, forever, in an instant, from sunshine to shadow? From pandemonium to loneliness? From fierce anger to a fiercer kind of love?
Something was missing. I was sure of it. Something was missing, but I couldn't for the life of me think what it was.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

“Dragons, like four o’clock tea, crumpets, marmalade, and zip-up cardigans, are a peculiarity to the Ununited Kingdoms. They are fierce, fire-breathing creatures of great intelligence, dignity, and sensitivity who could and did converse on matters of great importance. But for all their intelligence, wit, and social graces, dragons still had one habit that made them impossible to ignore.” “And that is?” “They liked to eat people.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from The Last Dragonslayer

“Инамура-сан дори не подозираше, че Тикако иска да я покаже на Кикудзи. Съвсем спокойно тя му приготви чая и без всякакво смущение подаде чашката на Кикудзи. След като отпи от нея, той започна да й се любува. Това беше черна чашка. От едната й страна имаше ивица бяла глазура, върху която с черно бе нарисувано стръкче от папрат.
— Би трябвало да я помните — каза Тикако.
— Да, да — замислено отговори Кикудзи и отпусна ръката, в която държеше чашката.
— Това стръкче папрат създава усещането за планинска местност. Чашката е подходяща за чайна церемония в началото на пролетта и баща ви обичаше да пие от нея през същия сезон. Въпреки че вече е малко късно за нея, предлагам ви я, защото си помислих, че ще ви бъде приятно да я подържите в ръце.
— Баща ми твърде кратко време е притежавал тази чашка. Тя си има своя история и ако не се лъжа, тя е преминала дълъг път — от майстора Рикю, епоха Момояма, за да стигне до нас. В продължение на няколко столетия тя е била съхранявана от много ценители на чайната церемония и е била предавана следващите поколения. Така че тук баща ми стои по-настрана — каза Кикудзи, стараейки се да забрави съдбите, които се преплитаха около тази чашка.
От господин Оота чашката е станала собственост на вдовицата му, след това е била подарена на бащата на Кикудзи, който от своя страна я подарил на Тикако. И сега от четиримата, двамата мъже са починали, а двете жени присъствуват тук на чайната церемония. Само по себе си това вече е достатъчно съдбата на тази чашка да бъде считана за необикновена. А тук на чайната церемония колко много други момински ръце и устни са се докосвали до тъмната й повърхност.
— Аз също с удоволствие бих пила от тази чашка. По-рано пиех от друга — неочаквано за всички каза госпожа Оота.”
― Yasunari Kawabata, quote from Thousand Cranes

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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