Quotes from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“Each of us in our own small sphere can do something. And we can, we must.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“This book made me feel strangely awkward, because I'm afraid of finding my own story in it. I take books too seriously.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“It's a wonderful, inspiring feeling to have real friends who love and understand you. I have never had that feeling before.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“There is beauty in the midst of tragedy. As if beauty were condensing in the heart of ugliness. It's very strange.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“What will become of me? I do not know where am I going or what tomorrow will bring.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“I really don't know what's happened to me, but I have changed from top to toe. I am living in a strange mixture of memories of yesterday and today.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“What people need in order to write is an observant spirit and a broad mind.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“The impression that what is extraordinary is real, and that the real is the extraordinary.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“Now that everybody thinks he looks a little Slavic, it annoys me. I don't want that to be the reason I find him charming. I found him charming for no reason, because he is who he is.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“There can be no deeper despair, no pain less easy to assuage, than losing a husband when you are young.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“It seemed to me that I was suddenly in the presence of incosolable, unavoidable, and immense pain.

The thought of that death hunted me and turned everything else into nothing.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“...For I do now know that it is cowardly. We do not have the right to think only of poetry on this earth. It is magical, but utterly selfish.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

“And then there is pride. I do not want any part of it. The idea that you can write for other people, so as to be praised by them, horrifies me. Maybe there is also the feeling that "other people" won't understand you completely, that they make you dirty and mutilate you, and that you let yourself be cheapened like mere merchandise.”
― Hélène Berr, quote from The Journal of Hélène Berr

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Popular quotes

“Sometimes you had to take a look at yourself and then look away.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from Snuff

“I don’t belong here, David. Not yet. Maybe someday. If-- when Yasmine becomes Queen, she’ll need me, but for now, what Avalon really needs is someone in the human world, just like Jamison said. Someone to remind them how great humans really are. How great you really are,’ She added. ‘And I intend to do just that.’
‘Laurel?’
There was an edge of desperation in his voice, a deep sorrow she knew she had put there. ‘Yeah?’
He was quiet for a long time and Laurel wondered if he had changed his mind when he blurted, ‘We could have made it. If it hadn’t been for... for him, we would have had the real thing. Our whole lives. I truely believe that.’
Laurel smiled sadly. ‘Me too.’ She threw herself into David’s arms, pressing her cheek to his warm chest, the same way she’d hugged him countless times before. But there was something more in it, this time, as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. And she knew, despite the fact that she would see him everyday from now through graduation, that this was goodbye.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘For everything.’
A movement caught the corner of her eye; he was fat away, but she knew him in an instant. Tamani was struggling up the pathway on his own, hardly able to put one foot in front of the other. Even as she watched he stumbled and barely caught himself.
Laurel gasped and was on her feet in an instant. ‘I have to help him,’ she said.
David met her eyes and held her gaze for several seconds before he looked down and nodded. ‘Go,’ he said. ‘He needs you.’
‘David?’ Laurel said. ‘Sometimes...’ she tried to remember how Chelsea had explained it to her once. ‘Sometimes we’re busy looking at one thing, one... person... that we can’t see anything else. Maybe-- maybe it’s time for you to open your eyes and look around.’
That message delivered, Laurel whirled and headed for Tamani without a backward glance.

Chapter 27
‘Tamani!’ Laurel called, running to him.
He looked up and for a second, Laurel saw joy in his eyes. But then darkness clouded his expression. He blinked and looked down at the ground, running his fingers through his hair almost nervously.
Laurel tucked herself underneath his good arm, wanting to chide him for doing so much. Beneath her fingertips Laurel could feel no trace of Klea’s virulent toxin, which was encouraging, but his wounds were grevious on their own. ‘Are you alright?’
He shook hes head and his eyes looked haunted in a way she had never seen before. Yesterday she had been peripherally aware that he was pushing his emotions aside to accomplish the tasks before him. But here, with no one around bur Laurel, with no lives to save, he had let his defenses fo and allowed himself to really feel. And it showed. ‘No,’ he said, his voice shaking. ‘I’m not all right. And I don’t think I’m going to be alright for a long time. But I’ll live,’ he added after a brief pause.
‘Sit,’ Laurel said pulling him off the path to a patch of grass where a larege pine shaded them from not only the rising sun, but also from prying eyes. For just a moment, she wanted him all to herself. ’Where’s Chelsea?’
‘She’ll be here soon,’ he said wearily.
‘Where were you?’ She asked.
He was silent for a moment. ‘Shar’s house,’ he finally finally said, his voice cracking.
‘Oh, Tam,’ Laurel breathed, her hands gripping his shoulders.
‘It was his last request,’ Tamani said, one silent tear tracing down his face for an instant before he broke her gaze and rubbed it with his sleeve.
Laurel wanted to wrap her arms around him, to offer her shoulder for him to cry on, to soothe away those terrible lines on his forehead, but she didn’t know where to begin. ‘Tamani, what’s going on?’
Tamani swallowed, then shook his head. ‘I’ll get you back to California-- you’ll see. You, Chelsea, and David.’
‘But--’
‘But I’m not coming with you.’
‘You-- you have to,’ Laurel said, but Tamani was shaking his head.”
― Aprilynne Pike, quote from Destined

“I feel like I’m broken—like I don’t fit together anymore. Like there’s no more room for me in the world or something. Like I’ve overstayed my welcome here on Earth, and everyone’s trying to give me hints about that constantly. Like I should just check out.”
― Matthew Quick, quote from Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

“For a better part of a decade, he had been outside society, distanced in mind and spirit if not in body. But now, for the first time since Centeral America, Jack Twist had the need, the desire, and ability to reach out to society around him, to make friends.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Strangers

“I couldn’t wait to meet his cherry-popping, cougar pimp landlady again. Said no one ever.”
― Linda Kage, quote from Price of a Kiss

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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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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