“When would he realize that it wasn't his infidelity I couldn't bear, but his cowardice?”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“You get attached to places, you know. Like people, I suppose.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“How was it possible that entire lives could change, could be destroyed, and that streets and buildings remained the same, she wondered.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“I wanted to cry, but the tears did not come.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Zakhor. Al Tichkah. Remember. Never forget.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“You're playing with Pandora's box. Sometimes it's better not to open it. Sometimes, it's better not to know.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“I wanted to say sorry, I wanted to tell her I could not forget the roundup, the camp, Michel's death, and the direct train to Auschwitz that had taken her parents away forever. Sorry for what? he had retaliated, why should I, an American, feel sorry, hadn't my fellow countrymen freed France in June 1944? I had nothing to be sorry for, he laughed.
I had looked at him straight in the eyes.
Sorry for not knowing. Sorry for being forty-five years old and not knowing.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“The girl wondered: These policemen... didn't they have families, too? Didn't they have children? Children they went home to? How could they treat children this way? Were they told to do so, or did they act this way naturally? Were they in fact machines, not human beings? She looked closely at them. They seemed of flesh and bone. They were men. She couldn't understand.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“She couldn't imagine why there was such a difference between those children and her. She couldn't imagine why she and all these other people with her had to be treated this way. Who decided this, and what for?”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Michel. In my dreams, you come and get me. You take me by the hand and you lead me away. This life is too much for me to bear. I look at the key and I long for you and for the past. For the innocent, easy days before the war. I know now my scars will never heal. I hope my son will forgive me. He will never know. No one will ever know.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“And so I write this for you, My Sarah. With the hope that one day, when you’re old enough, this story that lives with me, will live with you as well. When a story is told, it is not forgotten. It becomes something else, a memory of who we were; the hope of what we can become.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“You know what I find most shocking about the Vel'd'Hiv?" Guillaume said. "Its code name."
I knew the answer to that, thanks to my extensive reading.
Operation Spring Breeze, " I murmured.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Sometimes, Miss Jarmond, it's not easy to bring back the past. There are unpleasant surprises. The truth is harder than ignorance”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“She bent her chin to her chest. She mumbled something I did not catch. It sounded like, "Shame on us all for not having stopped it.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“The eyes of a woman in the face of a ten-year-old girl.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror as we glided p. I looked as eroded as the groaning lift. What had happened to the fresh-faced belle from Boston, Mass.? The woman who stared back at me was at the dreaded age between forty-five and fifty, that no-man's land of sag, oncoming wrinkle, and stealthy approach of menopause.
"I hate this elevator, too," I said grimly.
Zoe grinned and pinched my cheek.
"Mom, even Gwyneth Paltrow would look like hell in that mirror."
I had to smile. That was such a Zoe-like remark.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Finally, the lock clicked and she tugged the secret door open. A rotten stench hit her like a fist. She drew away. The boy at her side recoiled, afraid. Sarah fell to her knees. Sarah could not speak, she could only quiver, her fingers covering her eyes, her nose, blocking out the smell.....She sank to her knees again and she screamed at the top of her lungs, she screamed, for her mother, for her father, screamed for Michel.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“I took his hand and pressed it hard. I could not bear to look at him any longer, so I closed my eyes and put his hand against my cheek. I cried with him. I felt his fingers grow wet with my tears, but I kept his hand there.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Are you afraid in there?" she said softly, as the men called out for them.
"No," he said. "I'm not afraid. You lock me in. They won't get me."
She closed the door on the little white face, turned the key in the lock. Then she slipped the key into her pocket. The lock was hidden by a pivoting device shaped like a light switch. It was impossible to see the outline of the cupboard in the paneling of the wall. Yes, he'd be safe there. She was sure of it.
The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel.
"I'll come back for you later. I promise.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Er was niets veranderd in de straat, zag ze. Het was nog steeds dezelfde rustige straat die ze altijd had gekend. Hoe was het mogelijk dat levens totaal konden veranderen, konden worden vernietigd, terwijl straten en gebouwen hetzelfde bleven, vroeg ze zich af.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Zakhor, Al Tichkah.' Souviens-toi. N'oublie jamais.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“No one loved Paris better than a true Parisian. No one was prouder of his city than a true Parisian. No one was half so arrogant, so haughty, so conceited, and quite so irresistible. Why”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“My grandmother was fifteen the day of the roundup. She was told she was free because they were only taking small children between two and twelve with their parents. She was left behind. And they took all the others. Her little brothers, her little sister, her mother, her father, her aunt, her uncle. Her grandparents. It was the last time she ever saw them. No one came back No one at all.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Be brave, my sweet love. Be brave, as brave as you can”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Never cry in front of these men. Never cry. Ever. It’s only hair. Hair will grow back.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Quand ces enfant sont arrivés à Auschwitz, on n'opéra pas de 'selection'. On ne les mit pas en rang avec les hommes et les femmes. On ne regarda pas qui était en bonne santé, qui était malade, qui pouvait travailler, qui ne le pouvait pas. On les envoya directement dans les chambres à gaze.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“was empty, what had happened to the family’s”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“The girl wondered if her parents had been right to protect her from everything, if they had been right not to explain why so many things had changed for them since the start of the war... Nobody would tell her. Nobody would explain. She hated being treated like a baby. She hated the voices being lowered when she entered the room. If they had told her, if they had told her everything they knew, wouldn't that have made today easier?”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
“Vous savez, Miss Jarmond, faire revivre le passé n'es pas chose facile. On a parfois des surprises désagréables. La vérité est plus terrible que l'ignorance.”
― Tatiana de Rosnay, quote from Sarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
Born place: in Neuilly sur Seine, France
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“When a friendship crumbles, there are only really two things that can bring it back: a shitload of time, or a sincere apology.”
― Dahlia Adler, quote from Just Visiting
“We were never short on passion. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. Adrenaline raced over the fatigue that had settled into my bones after another sleepless night. I could fuck the woman until I was blind, and it wouldn’t be enough. She’d promised me a lifetime, and I had every intention of loving her well every day this life would give me.”
― Meredith Wild, quote from Hard Limit
“I want something that makes people strong and energetic for the present, that borrows the strength of to-morrow for use to-day—leaving to-morrow without any at all for that matter; or even that would take all life away to-morrow, so long as it enabled me to get home again now.”
― Thomas Hardy, quote from A Pair of Blue Eyes
“Tibet has not yet been infested by the worst disease of modern life, the everlasting rush. No one overworks here. Officials have an easy life. They turn up at the office late in the morning and leave for their homes early in the afternoon. If an official has guests or any other reason for not coming, he just sends a servant to a colleague and asks him to officiate for him.
Women know nothing about equal rights and are quite happy as they are. They spend hours making up their faces, restringing their pearl necklaces, choosing new material for dresses, and thinking how to outshine Mrs. So-and-so at the next party. They do not have to bother about housekeeping, which is all done by the servants. But to show that she is mistress the lady of the house always carries a large bunch of keys around with her. In Lhasa every trifling object is locked up and double-locked.
Then there is mah-jongg. At one time this game was a universal passion. People were simply fascinated by it and played it day and night, forgetting everything else—official duties, housekeeping, the family. The stakes were often very high and everyone played—even the servants, who sometimes contrived to lose in a few hours what they had taken years to save. Finally the government found it too much of a good thing. They forbade the game, bought up all the mah-jongg sets, and condemned secret offenders to heavy fines and hard labor. And they brought it off! I would never have believed it, but though everyone moaned and hankered to play again, they respected the prohibition. After mah-jongg had been stopped, it became gradually evident how everything else had been neglected during the epidemic. On Saturdays—the day of rest—people now played chess or halma, or occupied themselves harmlessly with word games and puzzles.”
― Heinrich Harrer, quote from Seven Years in Tibet (Paladin Books)
“Ni en la guerra debe haber muertos inutiles. Usted me entiende, vaya al colegio y trate en el futuro de que la muerte del cadete Arana sirve para algo.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The Time of the Hero
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