“But history does matter. There is a line connecting the Armenians and the Jews and the Cambodians and the Bosnians and the Rwandans. There are obviously more, but, really, how much genocide can one sentence handle?”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“When it seems you have nothing at all to live for, death is not especially frightening.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“He recalls what that first German soldier said to his major: No God-not yours or mine-approves of what you're doing.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“But history does matter. There are lines connecting the Armenians and the Jews and the Cambodians and the Serbs and the Rwandans. They are obviously morbid. Really, how much genocide can one sentence handle? You get the point. Besides, my grandparents’ story deserves to be told, regardless of their nationalities.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“Those who participate in a genocide as well as those who merely look away rarely volunteer much in the way of anecdote or observation. Same with the heroic and the righteous. Usually it's only the survivors who speak-and often they don't want to talk much about it either. p. 75”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“How the Germans can remain allies with the Turks is beyond me. No European nation would ever commit the sorts of crimes that this regime is blithely committing right now.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“we have on earth exactly the amount of time that has been allotted to us, no more and no less. We really have precious little control.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“It was Aldous Huxley who observed, “Every man’s memory is his private literature.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“be wary of what I might learn. “No. Do you think I should?” “I don’t know. Maybe,” she replied, and in my mind I saw her in her high-backed bar stool at the island in the kitchen where the kids scarfed down their Lucky Charms before walking down the hill to school. Then, before I could answer, she went on, “It will be weird if we’re related to the woman in the photo.” “In what way?” “She’s so …” “Go ahead,” I said. “She’s not like us. Even if she is related to us, she’s not like us. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that she’s from a different world.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“She talks and talks because whenever she is silent she finds herself looking at him and her breath grows a little short.”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“are an Armenian,” says the Turk with the handgun. “I am.” “Where are you going?” “Damascus.” “Why?” “My sister lives there.” “What do you do?” “I’m an engineer. I’m working on the Baghdad Railway—the spur from Aleppo to Nusaybin.” “The British have captured Nasiriyah.” “I hadn’t heard that.” He nods. “Had you heard that an Armenian murdered a Turkish”
― Chris Bohjalian, quote from The Sandcastle Girls
“Then she looked away, dismissing him as if she’d found him to be substandard.
All right, then. She didn’t find him attractive. Good.
In fact, he kept his head shaved to a glossy shine for just that reason. He was a man willing to do anything to discourage feminine attention.
Because yeah, females could be vanity hounds and most preferred their dates to have hair. Black, blond, red, it didn’t matter, as long as the locks were thick and lustrous.
And here was a news flash for little
Miss Giggles: when he allowed his to grow, it was dark brown, nearly jet, with hints of gold and worthy of a fucking lion.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from Dark Taste of Rapture
“You seem to be the one for firsts,” his breath caught, “and lasts and always.”
― Aleksandr Voinov, quote from Special Forces
“I broke away from Samedi and sprinted down the gangplank, screaming out Bram's name. His head turned, and he started limping toward me.
"Nora!" I heard someone yell.
Bram met me halfway. He scooped me up with one arm and pulled my head toward his. I didn't fight it in the least. He kissed me harshly, and I returned it, leaping up on my toes, seeking out his chapped, broken lips with my own, inexpertly, needfully. And then he just held me as I cried, soaking his dirty T-shirt with my tears, his cheek on my head.
"I thought you were gone," I managed to get out. "I thought you were really gone..."
"I thought I was, too," he said, laughing weakly. "But I'd never leave you if I had the choice. I was going to get back to you, or grind to dust trying.”
― Lia Habel, quote from Dearly, Departed
“Si aquellos a los que amamos nos visitan en nuestros sueños, aquellos que nos atormentan casi siempre acuden a nosotros en nuestro despertar.”
― Alyson Richman, quote from The Lost Wife
“Most dreams die a slow death. They're conceived in a moment of passion, with the prospect of endless possibility, but often languish and are not pursued with the same heartfelt intensity as when first born. Slowly, subtly, a dream becomes elusive and ephemeral. People who've lost their own dreams become pessimists and cynics. They feel like the time and devotion spent on chasing their dreams were wasted. The emotional scars last forever.”
― Dean Karnazes, quote from Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner
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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