Island Of The Blue Dolphins Quotes
"I do not remember much of this time, except that many suns rose and set."
"The noise of the surf seemed to be their voices speaking."
"I vowed that someday I would go back and kill the wild dogs in the cave."
"Yet I do remember the day that I decided I would never live in the village again."
"The stars were bright overhead and I lay and counted the ones that I knew and gave names to many that I did not know."
"Summer is the best time on the Island of the Blue Dolphins."
"The thought of being alone on the island while so many suns rose from the sea and went slowly back into the sea filled my heart with loneliness."
"More than anything, it was the blue dolphins that took me back home."
"I was happy to be home. Everything that I saw... filled me with happiness."
"The Island of the Blue Dolphins was my home; I had no other."
"It was hard work, much of it a man’s work, but not until I was finished did I go back to the place where the sea elephants lived."
"The fire burned high. Some of the smoke trailed out over the hill, but much of it stayed in the cave."
"I was so close to him that I could see his nose quivering, but he did not see me until I raised my bow."
"The arrow struck him in the chest. He turned away from me, took one step and fell."
"I do not think that he knew I was picking him up, for his body was limp, as if he were dead."
"This bush has poisonous berries, yet its wood often heals wounds that nothing else will."
"All day I was among the rocks gathering shellfish and only once did I think of the wounded dog."
"His eyes were sunken and they looked out at me from far back in his head."
"I had no thought that he would live and I did not care."
"That night I slept on the rock, for I was afraid of him."
"The next time they feathered out, I did not trim their wings, but they never flew farther away than the ravine and would always come back at night to sleep."
"I could not get through the opening under the fence, so I cut the bindings and lifted out two of the whale ribs and thus took him into the house."
"I stood there for a long time looking down at him and then I climbed off the rocks."
"The only thing I could see of him was one long arm still grasping his prey."
"I thought he did not see that the other was upon him. But crouching there, he suddenly raised himself and at the same time fastened his teeth in the dog’s throat."
"I did not look up at those standing quietly on the ledge or at the flute player playing for them, but paddled fast out into the morning sea."
"It was a beautiful skirt and I finished it on the day after the second moon. I had burned all of the little fish, and since I could catch no more until the Aleuts left, I took the skirt outside to work on it there."
"‘Rontu,’ I said, feeling giddy with happiness, ‘if you were not a male dog I would make you one too, as beautiful as this.’"
"The girl jumped down from the ledge and came over to me and touched it. ‘Wintscha,’ she said again."
"I had not heard words spoken for so long that they sounded strange to me, yet they were good to hear, even though it was an enemy who spoke them."
"For animals and birds are like people, too, though they do not talk the same or do the same things. Without them the earth would be an unhappy place."
"The passing of the moons now had come to mean little, and I only made marks to count the four seasons of the year."
"Slowly it moved away in the mist. It went towards the south. I stood there until it was out of sight."
"I raised my hand and shouted. I shouted over and over, but the wind carried my voice away."
"There is no sound like this in all the world."