Human Resilience Quotes

“Today any serious student will agree that the history of the Soviet Union under Stalin is first and foremost testimony to human resilience.”
― Kees Boterbloem, Life in Stalin's Soviet Union

“You won’t escape me. In a submarine, even escape sinks.”
— Angelika Regossi, Love in Communism: A Young Woman’s Adult Story”
― Angelika Regossi, Love in Communism: A Young Woman's Adult Story

“As soon as Peter took off his coat and saw what his grandmother had cooked, he ran straight to the table and climbed into ‘his’ place – a large, sturdy wooden armchair with a small stool set on top of it.
He bit eagerly into the pasty, taking large mouthfuls and greedily washing them down with milk. At one moment, the boy moved a little too abruptly, and a thin stream of warm milk escaped from the corner of his mouth, slid between cheek and chin, slipped under his collar, and disappeared on his chest, gently warming his skin. Peter wiped the spilled milk with his sleeve, took another pasty – then another, and another…
Years later, this moment – so full of bright childhood sensations – would return to him night after night, haunting the hungry Peter, tormenting both soul and body in his sleep. Repeated endlessly, the dream would turn into suffering – a symbol of doom and unrealized hopes. And even within this seemingly kind dream, a Damoclean sword would hang over his mind: the impossibility, the futility of ever turning it into reality.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: A memory of warmth, abundance, and family love that later becomes a recurring dream for a starving prisoner. The contrast reveals how childhood comfort turns into psychological torment under hunger and repression.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.

“The hospital’s long-time cook, Iryna, mechanically peeled potatoes as usual — breakfast had to be prepared for the patients.
Work was work, and she was now the only breadwinner in her family.
Yet today her thoughts were entirely at home. There, her pregnant daughter Maria had been struck down by typhus and had lain alone in critical condition for a week. To make matters worse, no one was with her.
Normally, Iryna would visit her sick daughter during the day. But today the hospital was in emergency mode — another convoy of wounded from the civil war had arrived. A mother’s heart was tearing itself toward her child… though what could she really do?
Wiping her hands on a towel, Iryna approached the small icon depicting the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus. She knelt, folded her hands to her chest, fixed her gaze on the immaculate face of the Mother of God — and began to pray.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book One
Context note:
Set during the chaos of the Ukrainian Civil War and a typhus epidemic, this scene shows the quiet suffering of civilians. While the hospital is overwhelmed with wounded, a mother torn between duty and fear turns to faith — highlighting the human cost of war beyond the battlefield.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга перша. Перші кроки до світла та назад: Дитинство та занурення в ГУЛАГ.

“A son. An heir. Fragile — born too soon, and yet deeply desired.”
The thought had barely formed when the father took the newborn into his arms and fell in love at first sight. Afraid to harm him, yet unable to resist, he gently kissed the baby’s cheek.
“He is not Alexander, as I once imagined,” he realized suddenly. “He is Peter. My son is Peter.”
When the parents chose the name, they did not know its ancient Greek meaning. Nor could they imagine how precisely it would define the boy’s fate: Peter — a stone, a rock.
From the very moment of his painful birth, he would stand like a rock against suffering and injustice, enduring hardship, surviving cruelty, and emerging stronger — destined to fulfill a mission of goodness, reason, honesty, and justice.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book One


Context note:
Born into a turbulent era of war, revolution, repression, and uncertainty, Peter enters the world fragile — yet claimed by history itself. This moment of birth marks the quiet beginning of a life shaped by endurance, moral strength, and resistance to cruelty.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман: Часть первая. Первые шаги к свету и обратно

“The boys lived in their own simple, carefree world, unconcerned with hygiene and unaware of the theory of evolution. Yet ruthless natural selection—further intensified by human disregard for its principles and the laws of biology—allowed only the strongest and most enduring to survive.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
This quote reflects childhood lived under harsh social neglect, where survival depended not on care or knowledge, but on physical resilience. Set against the backdrop of Soviet Ukraine, it uses the metaphor of natural selection to expose how indifference to basic human and biological needs shaped who endured—and who did not.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.