Heather > Heather's Quotes

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“What had human beings become? Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us?”
― Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea

“You stand for what is right, Lina, without the expectation of gratitude or reward.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“My husband, Andrius, says that evil will rule until good men or women choose to act. I believe him. This testimony was written to create an absolute record, to speak in a world where our voices have been extinguished. These writing may shock or horrify you, but that is not my intention. It is my greatest hope that the pages in this jar stir your deepest well of human compassion. I hope they prompt you to do something, to tell somone. Only then can we ensure that this kind of evil is never allowed to repeat itself.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“We'd been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean. I realized that if we boosted one another, maybe we'd get a little closer.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot.
We were about to become cigarettes.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“A wrongdoing doesn't give us the right to do wrong.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“Paradise: If communism is Paradise, why do we need barriers, walls, and laws to keep people from escaping?”
― Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You

“How could we expect others to feel our pain or hear our cries for help when all we could do was whisper?”
― Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You

“Silence has a voice of its own.”
― Ruta Sepetys, The Fountains of Silence

“Shelves without books were lonely and just plain wrong.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Out of the Easy

“Good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free.”
― Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You

“Tadas was sent to the principal today," announced Jonas at dinner. He wedged a huge piece of sausage into his small mouth.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because he talked about hell," sputtered Jonas, juice from the plump sausage dribbling down his chin.

"Jonas, don't speak with your mouth full. Take smaller pieces," scolded Mother.

"Sorry," said Jonas with his moth stuffed. "It's good." He finished chewing. I took a bite of sausage. It was warm and the skin was deliciously salty.

"Tadas told one of the girls that hell is the worst place ever and there's no escape for all eternity."

"Now why would Tadas be talking of hell?" asked Papa, reaching for the vegetables.

"Because his father told him that if Stalin comes to Lithuania, we'll all end up there.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray