Quotes from Song of the Sparrow

“It should begin with friendship, I think. Suddenly I cannot look at him.
It should begin with friendship and truly knowing who a person is, knowing his flaws and hopes and strengths and fears, knowing all of it. And admiring and caring for- loving the person because of all of those things...
I know that now.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“But, I believe," I continue, "I know what true love is - or what it should be."

"What should it be?" Tristan asks, his voice soft now.

"It should be a friendship and truly knowing who a person is, knowing his flaws and hopes and strengths and fears, knowing all of it. And admiring and caring for - loving the person because of those things.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“Love is a tempestuous mistress.
And none of us shall ever master her.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“Still, I look down, and the grass is so green, I cannot understand how it does not wither and die with sorrow.

~Song of the Sparrow”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“My sparrow, she flickers and wakes and sings and sings. ”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“And at that moment, a lilting melody lifts to the moon as a single sparrow sings.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“Still, I look down, and the grass is so green, I cannot understand how it does not wither and die with sorrow. But against the emerald carpet, the warriors make war, and it is like a dance, almost beautiful, always macabre. The noise brings me back, the fearsome noise of swords striking swords, a metallic clanging that rings in my ears, echoing and echoing the fearsome din of men screaming and crying as they meet the sharp ends of blades. ”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“Child, think not of those things, those dark possibilities. Your father and brothers are here with you today. Lavain will tug at your braids, Tirry will sing you songs, and your father will see his wife's beauty in you. Savor their love today. And it will never leave you.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“What place does a woman have here, in the realm of men?”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“The birch trees loom ahead like a brotherhood of ghosts. ”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

“There is a look in his eye,
a heavy look that
makes him seem older,
as though in one night
he has lived one hundred lifetimes.
And it makes him appear
even more handsome.”
― Lisa Ann Sandell, quote from Song of the Sparrow

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Popular quotes

“I'm said, I think. I frown into space for a minute. No. I'm lonely.
It's a sensation that Pax used to drive away. Now he makes the feeling worse than ever. Because nothing makes you feel lonelier than someone being with you... but not.”
― Karole Cozzo, quote from How to Keep Rolling After a Fall

“Culture has tremendous inertia,” he said. “That’s why it’s culture. It works because it lasts. Culture strangles innovation in the crib.”
― Atul Gawande, quote from Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

“Marriage by now seemed to me an institution that, contrary to what one might think, stripped coitus of all humanity.”
― quote from Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

“While these tactics were aggressive and crude, they confirmed that our legislation had touched a nerve. I wasn’t the only one who recognized this. Many other victims of human rights abuses in Russia saw the same thing. After the bill was introduced they came to Washington or wrote letters to the Magnitsky Act’s cosponsors with the same basic message: “You have found the Achilles’ heel of the Putin regime.” Then, one by one, they would ask, “Can you add the people who killed my brother to the Magnitsky Act?” “Can you add the people who tortured my mother?” “How about the people who kidnapped my husband?” And on and on. The senators quickly realized that they’d stumbled onto something much bigger than one horrific case. They had inadvertently discovered a new method for fighting human rights abuses in authoritarian regimes in the twenty-first century: targeted visa sanctions and asset freezes. After a dozen or so of these visits and letters, Senator Cardin and his cosponsors conferred and decided to expand the law, adding sixty-five words to the Magnitsky Act. Those new words said that in addition to sanctioning Sergei’s tormentors, the Magnitsky Act would sanction all other gross human rights abusers in Russia. With those extra sixty-five words, my personal fight for justice had become everyone’s fight. The revised bill was officially introduced on May 19, 2011, less than a month after we posted the Olga Stepanova YouTube video. Following its introduction, a small army of Russian activists descended on Capitol Hill, pushing for the bill’s passage. They pressed every senator who would talk to them to sign on. There was Garry Kasparov, the famous chess grand master and human rights activist; there was Alexei Navalny, the most popular Russian opposition leader; and there was Evgenia Chirikova, a well-known Russian environmental activist. I didn’t have to recruit any of these people. They just showed up by themselves. This uncoordinated initiative worked beautifully. The number of Senate cosponsors grew quickly, with three or four new senators signing on every month. It was an easy sell. There wasn’t a pro-Russian-torture-and-murder lobby in Washington to oppose it. No senator, whether the most liberal Democrat or the most conservative Republican, would lose a single vote for banning Russian torturers and murderers from coming to America. The Magnitsky Act was gathering so much momentum that it appeared it might be unstoppable. From the day that Kyle Scott at the State Department stonewalled me, I knew that the administration was dead set against this, but now they were in a tough spot. If they openly opposed the law, it would look as if they were siding with the Russians. However, if they publicly supported it, it would threaten Obama’s “reset” with Russia. They needed to come up with some other solution. On July 20, 2011, the State Department showed its cards. They sent a memo to the Senate entitled “Administration Comments on S.1039 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law.” Though not meant to be made public, within a day it was leaked.”
― Bill Browder, quote from Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

“I should think that is what anyone would wish- to be loved for themselves and not their position.”
― Kendare Blake, quote from Three Dark Crowns

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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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