Quotes from The Boy in the Suitcase

Lene Kaaberbøl ·  313 pages

Rating: (28.7K votes)


“She felt as if she was standing at the edge of an abyss, but she was in no way counting on God to rescue her. On the contrary. I don’t believe in any of it. Not anymore.”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


“If the boy did have a good and loving mother somewhere, surely they would find her.

God only knew how she wanted to believe it. Every single day, she practiced her detachment skills, trying not to care about everything that was wrong with the world. Or rather...to care, but in a suitably civilized manner, with an admirable commitment that might still be set aside when she came home to Morten and her family, complete with well-reasoned and coherent opinions of the humanist persuasion. Right now she felt more like one of those manic women from the animal protection societies, with wild hair and ever wilder eyes. Desperate.”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


“Only as long as one did what one always did would one remain relatively invisible.”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


“Nina couldn’t help wondering if the lives of other people were really as simple as they looked. As simple, and as happy.”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


“And the real beauty of it all for the cynical exploiters was that ordinary people didn’t care. Not really. No one had asked the refugees, the prostitutes, the fortune hunters, and the orphans to come knocking on Denmark’s door. No one had invited them, and no one knew how many there were. Crimes committed against them had nothing to do with ordinary people and the usual workings of law and order. It”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase



“She knew precious little about Lithuania, she realized, and her ideas had run along the lines of Soviet concrete ghettos, TB-infected prisons, and a callous mafia. Somehow,”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


“Os pecadores eram bem mais interessantes que as pessoas comuns – a própria Bíblia atestava isso.”
― Lene Kaaberbøl, quote from The Boy in the Suitcase


About the author

Lene Kaaberbøl
Born place: in Copenhagen, Denmark
Born date March 24, 1960
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Popular quotes

“Nobody can teach you how to like something. You can like it, or you can pretend to like it, in order to make someone happy.”
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“My Camille,” he said, his voice as soft and powerful as a blow from a bellows, “did you believe you’d sail with me forever?”
She wanted to say yes, just to be able to say yes. But she shook her head.
“This is all my fault,” her father mumbled.
Camille sat back in the chaise longue and curled her legs beneath her. “What is?”
“I shouldn’t have let you accompany me to sea all these years. I should have sent you to a proper finishing school, given you a chance to find your place here in San Francisco. Instead, I was selfish and wanted you with me every moment.”
Camille relaxed her shoulders. “I don’t mind your selfishness, Father.”
He sent her a grin, but it was the one he used when there was a caveat attached.
“It did have to end sometime, Camille. True ladies don’t belong on merchant ships, and it’s high time you were a lady instead of a child.”
He was right, though she wished he weren’t. “True ladies” didn’t sail on ships. Their palms weren’t blistered from hauling line, the bridges of their noses and apples of their cheeks weren’t bronzed from the sun, and they most certainly didn’t associate with sailors.
Camille sighed. “Being a true lady sounds achingly dull.”
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Like stars...”
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“—¿Qué cuadro es ése? —preguntó el estudiante. —Psiquis.”
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“The words in his book wormed off the pages.
Everything glittered like blank paper.”
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