In the Warsaw Ghetto Quotes

“The key to understanding every story is to find yourself in it.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Kindness is probably the most underrated human quality. We tend to dismiss it when we come across it and seek out more exciting character traits. But kindness is often a refined form of courage. It brings light and warmth into the world. You should always value kindness when you find it.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Hiding compels a heightened intimacy with oneself.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“He suspects you don't truly know anyone until you've seen how they cope with fear.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“He loves the painting. Whenever he stands before it he feels the world is sharing a secret with him.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“In life, the narrative must go on. We're prisoners of our storylines. No one quite knows how or why they develop. And we have to cope with them as best we can, even when they push us over a new frontier.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Memories of shame have greater reserves of power to haunt than even memories of love.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“This part of Warsaw has always been an extension of home for her, part of her shape, a responsive intimate part of her identity. So much she was attached to, so much that lent her footholding weight is now obliterated. It’s as if one of the mirrors by which she recognises herself has ceased to reflect her. The teetering balancing act of unsupported walls makes her feel unsteady on her own legs. Buildings taken for granted are no longer standing. There are voids where previously history stood. Feathers like snowflakes rise up into the smoke infested air as if she is inside a macabre snow globe.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“There are no parks in the ghetto; barely any trees. She misses the smell of the refreshed earth, the flickering green light beneath overhanging foliage, the flight of birds over water. She misses the distinctive individual timbre of each of Warsaw’s church bells. She misses walking home at night through the fragrance of tree pollen and the laughter of lovers. Only books now enable her to experience many of the blessings of the natural world she loves but has never until now fully appreciated. She lives wholeheartedly inside every novel she reads.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“It's astonishing how much of our resilience resides is our routines, even in our things. I sometimes think every person's chances of surviving this war will be largely how adaptable they are to change.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“But sometimes someone will wear something that allows you a glimpse of their secret self. The essence becomes distinct for a moment.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“He finds himself remembering the night boat trips with his father. The boat easing through the black current. The moonlight silvering the whispering reeds and the leaves overhead. The air pungent with resin and algae and wet earth. The whisper of the willow leaves trailing in the water. His father standing with the oar, as if he owned and orchestrated the entire night.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“To hold an object that belonged to someone you have loved and lost alters for a moment the weight of your hand and then the weight of your entire body.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Sometimes you begin something believing it will soon be over but discover it carries on under its own steam. Perhaps there's some mysterious untouchable law that dictates the length of everything.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Sacrifice is perhaps the hardest discipline of all to learn in life. It's often to belittle yourself to the agency of something greater. You have to believe in that something greater.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“I suspect nothing has more power to alienate one from the wellsprings of all one's creative vitality than being trapped in a loveless marriage. Probably they are the people who no longer feel special, the unhappily married.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Relationships bring out the best in one, but they also bring out the worst. I'm not sure I want to subject anyone to the worst in me. Neither do I want to experience it myself. My insufficiencies, my immaturities, my insecurities. Alone, I avoid the worst of myself.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“In Max's experience whenever a person ceases to be a stranger reality either expands or constricts.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“Sometimes, to speak eloquently, you must remain silent. Max knows this. But often to remain silent is a crime.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“I wish wise words could rewire the circuit along which we think.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto

“He feels he has to accept their bond isn't as exalted as he believed. Just another ordinary relationship with niggling unspoken grudges, mistimed or inappropriate interventions, gross failures in code breaking, secret yearnings for escape, a growing litany of treasons and resentments.”
― Glenn Haybittle, In the Warsaw Ghetto