Bette Greene · 203 pages
Rating: (14.6K votes)
“Even if you forget everything else I want you to always remember that you are a person of value, and you have a friend who loved you enough to give you his most valued possession.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“Like the Bible tells us, when a man will lay down his life for a friend, well, then there ain't no greater love in this here world than that.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“And marking off time struck me as something like counting empty spaces—spaces you know can't ever be filled.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“It seems to me that a man who is incapable of humor is capable of cruelty.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“What do you know about sooner or later? Is a moment only a moment when you're in pain?”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“A person's got to think, otherwise that person's no better than a trained seal balancing a ball on his nose. If only that seal could think, he'd know he was making a thousand children laugh.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“Keep in mind that life produces no maestros, only students of varying shades of ineptitude.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“I wondered if a blessing is still a blessing if it lasts for only a little while.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“Fun, like champagne bubbles, can't completely fill you up.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“I believe that love is better than hate. And that there is more nobility in building a chicken coop than in destroying a cathedral.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“The ways of the Lord are filled with wonder and mystery.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“When people's emotions are involved they don't want to listen.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“Folks keep forgetting that wishing don't make nothing so, but prayer sometimes do.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“The secret is in absolutely refusing to let the river beat you down. If I had to, I'd measure my progress in inches. One more inch I've swum—one less inch to swim. Once you know the secret, then nobody's river can bring you down.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“Sometimes when a person be thinking about one thing it don't mean they is mad about another thing.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“One thing you can say about him is that he's appreciative. He's just happy having someone to sit with.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“The secret is in absolutely refusing to let the river beat you down.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“But you, Pearl, never liked anything once it was yours.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“My father chose acquiescence and life rather than resistance and death. Not a very admirable choice, but a very human one.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“My deception was believed because it was built on a foundation of truth … Hitler's first layer is an undeniable truth, such as: The German workers are poor. The second layer is divided equally between flattery and truth: The German worker deserves to be prosperous. The third layer is fabrication: The Jews and the Communists and Jews have stolen what is rightfully yours.”
― Bette Greene, quote from Summer of My German Soldier
“I was tired of this silly joking about my 'speaking countenance'. I could keep a secret as well as anyone. Poirot had always persisted in the humiliating belief that I am a transparent character and that anyone can read what is passing in my mind.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
“Dad takes a step back, one hand still on my shoulder, and reaches into his pocket. He draws out a little blue capsule, and I feel every molecule in my body screaming to run. Dad must catch the panic in my eyes - he squeezes my shoulder and holds out the capsule. "Cas, it's fine. It's going to be fine. This is just in case."
Just in case. Just in case the worst happens. The ship falls. Durga fails, I fail, and the knowledge I carry as a Reckoner trainer must be disposed of. That information can't fall into the wrong hands, into the hands of people who will do anything to take down our beasts.
So this little capsule holds the pill that will kill me if it comes to that.
"It's waterproof," Dad continues, pressing it into my hand. "The pocket on the collar of your wetsuit, keep it there. It has to stay with you at all times."
It won't happen on this voyage. It's such a basic mission, gift-wrapped to be easy enough for me to handle on my own. But even holding the pill fills me with revulsion. On all my training voyages, I've never had to carry one of these capsules. That burden only goes to full-time trainers.
"Cas." Dad tilts my chin up, ripping my gaze from the pull. "You were born to do this. I promise you, you'll forget you even have it." I suppose he ought to know - he's been carrying one for two decades.
It's just a right of passage, I tell myself, and throw my arms around his neck once more.”
― Emily Skrutskie, quote from The Abyss Surrounds Us
“I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Hamlet: An Authoritative Text, Intellectual Backgrounds, Extracts from the Sources, Essays in Criticism (Norton Critical Edition)
“It’s like I’m living in a feminist fantasy,” Lucy says. “But it can’t be a complete fantasy because Roxane Gay isn’t here.”
― Jennifer Mathieu, quote from Moxie
“If your master demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty.”
― Jeff Wheeler, quote from The Thief's Daughter
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