Cilka's Journey Quotes
"You are free. You are safe. We are the Soviet Army and we are here to help you."
"They were my enemy. I was a prisoner here."
"You’re not dying; you’re becoming a woman."
"There must be more ways to stay alive than to be witness to so much death."
"I understand, but don't ever ask me about that again."
"I know you’re cold, but I think we should save the coal until the others come home."
"It’s her fault. She made me do it, made me go along with it."
"You’re not much older than her, are you?"
"No one can judge us. You can’t know what it was like."
"I could read a book out here, if I had a book to read, so why not enjoy it?"
"What do you think, Cilka? Shall we let this malingering piece of shit take up a bed?"
"I don’t have to thank me. You did the hard work—you’ve earned the right to be recognized for it."
"You need to make a blindfold and cover your eyes and slowly let your body adjust."
"These are the two angels who took care of you."
"For the first time in a long while Cilka sees smiles on the faces of some of the women."
"Happy birthday. Pack the new coat Mumma and Papa gave you for your birthday, Cilka. You may need it."
"I know about you," she thinks, throwing silent daggers at his back.
"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."
"You have to be brave to look at the truth."
"In the face of pain there are no heroes."
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
"The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving."
"The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal."
"We accept the love we think we deserve."
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light."
"Some things in life cannot be fixed. They can only be carried."
"Sometimes the hardest part isn't letting go but rather learning to start over."
"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."
"Do you know how to operate this or where to get off?"
"I just want to live. I need to feel the pain I wake up with every morning, knowing I am alive, and my family aren’t."
"We won’t tell Josie what she did today, and I guarantee when she drops this one off tomorrow she will tell us how she crawled for the first time last night."
"It’s amazing that she volunteered to be here."
"I don’t know how to thank you for your kindness, your care."
"She’s a beautiful little girl, Jozefína."
"There is a car waiting outside. It will take you and Natia to the train station and from there to Moscow."
"If we’re going to be working together, can we try to get along?"
"You are the bravest person I have ever known, I hope you know that."
"I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave you."
"Get in the car. Go. Find your brothers. Have a good life—for me, for all of us—and make sure that little girl does too. I’ll think of you always, and with nothing but happy thoughts."
"I’m not feeling well. I don’t think I should go on the ward."
"You are lucky, Cilka Klein, but do not test my patience."
"I don’t know what love is. If I was to allow myself to fall in love with someone, I would have to believe there was a future. And there isn’t."
"Thank you, Yelena Georgiyevna, for everything."
"The fog in her head clears with the realization night has become day."