The War I Finally Won Quotes
"You can know things all you like, but that doesn’t mean you believe them."
"Despite the calluses, the skin on my foot tore and bled."
"The very next day surgeons were going to chop my curled ankle bones up and rearrange them. Maybe into something like a functional foot."
"I put the teacup Susan gave me to my lips. I forced myself to sip. My throat closed. I choked."
"Maybe. Depended entirely on what you meant by fine."
"I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t happy. Or angry. Or anything."
"I’d known my real birthday for just over a week."
"If I could stay in the saddle forever, I’d never be afraid."
"Butter was staying in Lady Thorton’s stables while I was in hospital."
"I’d only wanted to be able to leave the flat, not the city, but learning to walk saved me."
"I wanted to comfort him, but my insides felt hollow."
"Orphans. Jamie and I were orphans now, not evacuees."
"Mam hadn’t been much for words, and there was a limit to how much I could teach myself."
"We’re all away from Susan’s house the night German bombers destroyed it entirely."
"I clenched my teeth and held everything in."
"It wasn’t entirely true. I knew I still limped some even now. But all those words—lame, crippled, nobbut a disgrace. I wanted to forget I’d ever been that girl."
"If you started letting yourself feel afraid, you would never be able to stop."
"I didn’t want to be a horrible person. I didn’t think anyone wanted to be a horrible person."
"If I start letting things out of my heart, I will fall to pieces. I won’t be able to endure living here."
"It’s hard to see how unicorns, for example, were less real than horses."
"You don’t have to feel safe to actually be safe."
"What’s right and what’s permitted are sometimes different things."
"We dip parsley in salt water because we replace our tears with gratitude."
"It’s not fear exactly, it’s more like you can’t bear the waiting."
"You can love all sorts of people, in all sorts of ways. Nor is love in any way dangerous."
"Maybe we all become better versions of ourselves after we die."
"People are complicated. You, yourself, are not the easiest person to love. But you are still my sister."
"I’m trying to be quiet," I said. "I’m not," she said. "It’s such a relief not to be in that dorm."
"We’re fighting for Ruth’s grandmother, and for all the people like her."
"The whole world’s like that. Full of things we don’t understand."
"I don’t think Lady Thorton thought about Ruth at all. I don’t think she thought of anyone but Jonathan."
"Sometimes, Ada," Maggie said, "I get very tired of you setting the example for us all."
"Fortunately, you are not in charge of how I feel," Susan said.
"What was the worst thing about your life?" Lady Thorton asked. "Before you came here."
"No matter what happens, you’ll be all right."
"Fear and what you did with it were two separate things."
"I was afraid you’d try to stop me," I said, "and I knew I was right."
"It doesn’t matter," Lady Thorton said. "It won’t come to that. She’ll be fine."
"I’m not sure about this," she said. "Is this trip truly necessary?"