The Mountains Sing Quotes
"My grandmother used to tell me that when our ancestors die, they don’t just disappear, they continue to watch over us."
"The challenges faced by Vietnamese people throughout history are as tall as the tallest mountains."
"When you come home today, you’ll get our favorite food, Guava."
"The war might destroy our houses, but it can’t extinguish our spirit."
"I don’t believe in violence. None of us has the right to take away the life of another human being."
"Một miếng khi đói bằng một gói khi no." (One bite when starving equals one bundle when full.)
"Lá lành đùm lá rách." (Intact leaves safeguard ripped leaves.)
"As long as I have my voice, I’m still alive."
"If our stories survive, we will not die, even when our bodies are no longer here on this earth."
"We aren’t just teachers, we’re servants of the Party."
"It’s just two blocks away, Guava. I’ll run home as soon as I hear the siren. Promise to stay here?"
"In the world of Mèn, there was no war. It seemed only humans waged wars on each other, making each other suffer."
"I think we have enough to build ourselves a very simple brick house."
"Every cent she wants to donate to this neighborhood has been hard-earned money."
"I hope Papa comes back, because if he doesn’t, I’m never going to forgive you. Never, ever!"
"You’ll understand why I do this once you become a mother."
"People have been arrested and put into prison. Promise you’ll be careful?"
"The government wants to control us, Hương."
"The more I read, the more I became afraid of wars."
"Wars have the power to turn graceful and cultured people into monsters."
"The world around me spun as I tried to run toward my father."
"I didn’t care. My heart wasn’t at school. It was at home where I could read those so-called anticommunist books."
"I didn’t want to tell you about his death, but you and I have seen enough death and violence to know that there’s only one way we can talk about wars: honestly."
"I have something to show you." Her hands trembled as she unhooked the safety pin that closed her pocket.
"But as the scraps of paper flittered down to my feet like dead butterflies, my tears followed."
"It’s a blessing that this ancient site had escaped the bombings."
"The world will only be at peace if all people let go of their weapons."
"Heaven has eyes, Darling. Heaven will punish people who do bad things."
"History will write itself in people's memories, and as long as those memories live on, we can have faith that we can do better."
"I felt as if the rustling bamboo had built a fortress around us."
"We’re forbidden to talk about events that relate to past mistakes or the wrongdoing of those in power, for they give themselves the right to rewrite history."
"I knew it wasn’t true that Hùng had committed suicide. He loved us, Guava, and he loved his life."
"True love is rare and once we find our true love, we must hold on to it."
"I saw myself in the girls and boys in our neighboring countries who had to run for shelters during bombings."
"I felt his blessing on a cool wind that caressed my face."
"If I hadn’t been so naïve, perhaps we would have had time to escape."
"Being a mother is never easy, though. It’s about failing, learning, and then failing again."
"I was becoming a bad mother and a good liar, Guava."
"Every mother has a choice. Every mother has to take care of her children."
"I’ll come back for Đạt and Hạnh when it’s safer."
"You’re a baby killer. You betrayed Papa!"
"You can’t live on your mother’s labor forever."
"I want to meet the pilot who launched the rocket that killed Sánh."
"I’m not here to argue with you. Please come home and see your Brother Đạt."
"I know you’ve climbed up the ladder, Sáng, but don’t think you’re too high up."
"I’m a terrible daughter, for having been angry at her, for blaming her."
"Sometimes something is so terrible that you need to pretend it doesn’t exist."
"I wish I could take back the words I’d flung at her, but words are like water: once they have escaped one’s mouth, they’re spilled onto the floor."
"But Mama didn’t visit to talk about our fight. She insisted that I come to town with her."
"I saw the best of Hoàng and me. I saw determination and love for life."
"It was terrible that I lied to such a kind woman."
"No one’s looking out for it. I was in such a hurry—"
"I’m sorry, too, Mama . . . for taking so long to come back."
"The sun was yet to rise, but I saw light ahead of me: with Uncle Đạt home, for sure my mother would return."
"I want to rub her blood onto his face, so he could taste her suffering."
"Perhaps under the light of my aunt’s lucky star, I could be free from the bad omens that seemed to cling on to our family."
"I’ll find someone to care for my son. I can do all types of housework. I’m good with children."
"I had caught a glimpse of my mother’s sorrow, I had to see what type of a monster it was."
"Sometimes I think your father doesn’t come back because he knows."
"My heart ached with each footstep that pulled me away from Đạt."
"I was thinking of what to say when she picked up her sandals, flinging them at me."
"How are you celebrating Tết this year, Mama? Could you manage to buy sticky rice and pork to make bánh chưng? Do people still sell cherry blossom branches on the streets? Oh I miss watching those red and pink flowers bursting out from bamboo baskets or on the back of peddlers’ bikes."
"I’m so sorry I couldn’t wait for you and take you with me as I went to the South. If I did, perhaps all of us would be in America right now, living in freedom, as a family. Oh how selfish and cowardly of me to have run away without waiting for you after my escape."
"My beloved family, there’ve been many things that happened since the day that tore us apart."
"I pray for Nun Hiền often. Not only did she save my life, and Thuận’s life, but she also rescued my soul."
"Fire proves gold, adversity proves men. The challenges they’d faced made your mother, uncles, and auntie value life."
"I longed for my father to read it and find his way back to us."
"Human lives were short and fragile. Time and illnesses consumed us, like flames burning away these pieces of wood. But it didn’t matter how long or short we lived. It mattered more how much light we were able to shed on those we loved and how many people we touched with our compassion."
"Dead—my uncle who had taken care of me like a father. Dead—the man who had taught me about kindness and hard work."
"I hadn’t known about hatred, even when my father was taken away from me, but now I tasted hatred on my tongue."
"Late in the night the men became so drunk, they crumpled into heaps around the withering fire, their snores and snorts breaking the silence of the hour."
"You have to leave, Minh... run far away. Stay here and they’ll kill you."
"As I wandered on the national highway, I ran into a Catholic family who were fleeing... they knew it’d be dangerous but decided that God had arranged for them to meet me, and that it was their duty to help."
"I looked back at the road we’d just traveled. It was filled with black coal dust. I saw no future for me there."
"On the ship, I shoveled coal into burning furnaces. I worked furiously, trying to exhaust myself so I could fall asleep during breaks."
"I studied hard, got into university, and graduated with a law degree. I specialized in criminal law, determined to help undo injustice."
"I wish you could have been there at my wedding. Linh looked just like an angel."
"The war intensified. Fighting took place on the outskirts of our city, but sometimes artillery exploded in our neighborhood."
"I looked up at Jesus and prayed to him. I wanted to safeguard the freedom we had in the South."
"I thought I’d find satisfaction seeing my enemy dead, but the sight only made me empty and sad."
"I had expected us to win the war, but the Americans withdrew their troops one year after my oath to fight alongside them."
"The day my hometown, Nha Trang, was taken over, I wept."
"The camp was a harsh labor prison. We had to clear away bushes and hoe rocky land to turn it into rice paddies."
"I longed for news about Linh, Thiện, Nhân, and my parents-in-law, but only terrible stories reached me."
"Watching my wife and children depart was the hardest thing I ever had to do."
"I realized that blood that is shed can’t make blood flow again in other people’s veins."
"I’m sorry, Hương. Tâm’s grandfather is Wicked Ghost."
"Tâm has nothing to do with what happened... True love is rare, and once we find our true love, we must hold on to it."
"It is my family’s story, told by Grandma and me."
"In the twirling ash, I see the Sơn ca moving. It is flapping its wings, craning its neck, calling my grandma’s songs toward Heaven."