The Secret Speech Quotes
"The enemy would conquer a wasteland, burnt earth and a smoke-filled sky."
"Religion belonged in an age where every man was for himself And God was for every man."
"We will drink tonight, the two of us, to celebrate your retirement?"
"You genuinely believed that I might end up loving you? Didn’t you?"
"A man is nothing without the love of his family."
"The crowd had broken apart while the church had survived!"
"We’re not protecting these papers; we’re protecting their right to survive."
"The division of their family might make Raisa wonder which side of the divide she wanted to be on."
"Her love for him was complicated. Her love for them was simple."
"For the first time in three years he lied to her: 'Nothing is wrong. It was a shock seeing Nikolai again. That’s all.'"
"He’d spent his entire career propagandizing the State, teaching these children that the State was always right, good, and just."
"Despite his frustrations, he’d never shown any jealousy of Raisa’s easy relationship with Elena and Zoya."
"Once fanatical about Communism, he was now fanatical about his family."
"Her eyes were ablaze with victory. She raised the halves of the poster, streaked with her blood, as if brandishing the body of a vanquished foe."
"Leo had refused a job in order to run his homicide department, a department they’d been lobbying to shut down since its inception."
"The negative characteristics of Stalin, which, in Lenin’s time, were only incipient, transformed themselves during the last years into a grave abuse of power."
"The relationship between a student and teacher depended upon trust. She believed she’d upheld that premise, not in the orthodox sense that she’d told the truth, but she’d told them the truths they needed to hear."
"If the smashing of Stalin’s portrait were to be investigated Zoya would be placed under the scrutiny of the KGB. But so would they."
"For three years you’ve been allowed to get away with anything. You can do whatever you want and have whatever you want. You’ve never been told off."
"I had a lucky escape. If fear had taken hold of me, if I had faltered, I would’ve ended up as your wife, the wife of an MGB officer, an accomplice to your crimes, someone to share your guilt with."
"You find the night cold, Maxim? It is nothing compared to the winters in Kolyma, the frozen corner of this country where you sent my husband."
"When the police are criminals, the criminals must become the police. The innocent must live underground, in the shit of the city, while the villains live in warm apartments. The world is upside down: I’m merely turning it the right way up."
"Free my husband, or I will murder your daughter."
"His face was deadened—his lips bloodless and blue."
"The engine chugged. The truck was no longer moving. The man was gone."
"They were supposed to protect each other as if their lives were interwoven."
"The world had arranged every possible reason for her to die."
"With only a vague idea of what to do she took hold of the gearshift, scratching it forward—the sound of metal scraping."
"A tattoo would be forced upon him in a visible place—his forehead or the tops of his hands—a tattoo of an open vagina or anus."
"Bravado aside, it was honestly all the same to her."
"If he didn’t try and kill Leo outright, he’d announce that Leo was a Chekist, an interrogator, a man responsible for the incarceration of hundreds of innocent men and women."
"I was sure that I was right because how could such a monster be loved? Who would love him?"
"I have done things of which I am not proud. It is time I asked for your forgiveness."
"My name is Zhores Sinyavksy. You know me as the commander of this Gulag where I have worked for many years."
"Your love for him is everything. That is why I am placing it on trial."
"I have asked the others… Was there one Chekist who helped you? Was there one good man…? Everyone… said… no."
"The State chose you… to betray me… Because you have a heart… I would’ve spotted a man without one… That is your tragedy… Maxim, I cannot spare you… There is so little justice… We must take what we can get…"
"We must establish lookouts. We must take up arms along the perimeter."
"They wanted him to live. They wanted him to suffer."
"I work hard for the State. I live in a place where no one else wants to live."
"We agree that only the guards will be tried. The medical staff and the former prisoners who now work for the Gulag administration are exempt."
"The steps to the commander’s office will serve as the court’s stage. The guard will be led to the bottom step. We, the free men, will call out examples of their brutality."
"If the guard reaches the top they will be executed. If they do not, the guard will be allowed to descend the stairs and sit down."
"My hand is the proof of his crime. Frostbite. No gloves. Minus fifty degrees."
"The truth is that I have committed more crimes than there are steps."
"I accept that I have not yet done enough good to offset my wrongs. So why not allow me to live?"
"What about the people I saved? Since Stalin’s death, the mortality rate in this camp is the lowest in Kolyma."
"The commander asks for a second chance. Do we grant it?"
"I am a member of the Moscow militia. I was sent here undercover."
"Is it not easy to believe that he wronged at least two people each year?"
"I might even join in myself. I’m going to find out where your companions are."
"Why are they firing? Your comrades lied!"
"We’re not going to tell them. We cannot fight a revolution with men who want to run away."
"We have given them a crate containing the kind of food they haven’t seen in years, tinned fruit, meats, sweets."
"If caught he’d be shot. If the prisoners thought the guards were exploiting their kindness, a kindness they’d never been shown, the entire operation would be at risk."
"I’ve accepted that I will never leave Kolyma."
"In the name of our revolutionary forefathers. That glorious cause has been corrupted by your crimes."
"They requested food. We have given them a crate containing the kind of food they haven’t seen in years, tinned fruit, meats, sweets."
"You came to me for help. It is my view that Elena needs professional, full-time supervision."
"This department isn’t moving. It’s closing down."
"That is the best bread I’ve ever eaten."
"We cannot fight a revolution with men who want to run away."
"In Leo’s face Frol observed stillness belying an enormous kinetic force inside, tremendous anger bubbling under a thin sheet of glass."
"—Your children are safe. You have some nerve asking me that."
"—She’s still working for you? —Yes, she is."
"—I pose no threat to you. I haven’t brought a gun."
"—I don’t know… How can I know if this is my son?"
"—I don’t want to think about that all the time!"
"—You have what you wanted. The Secret Speech has been retracted. You don’t need Fraera anymore."
"You forget your parents? Is it that easy? What has changed? Malysh has kissed you? Is that it?"
"Word is that they have found the missing AVH officers. They’ve been hiding in the Communist Party headquarters all along."
"We’re going to run away, tonight. I don’t know where we’ll go. But we’ll survive. I’m good at surviving: it’s the only thing I am good at, except maybe killing."
"You talk about freedom. Then allow us to go."
"Your life is more of a punishment than death."
"What will you say? That the State murdered a genius and you stole his music? Who will love you for that confession? Who wants to hear it?"
"If I tell her the truth, will she forgive me?"