Ruta Quotes & Sayings

I adore themes of hope and courage and the ways we find meaning through suffering. — Ruta Sepetys

I looked back to the hole. What if we were digging our own grave? — Ruta Sepetys

Charlie Marlowe never wrote horror, but somehow horror was writing Charlie Marlowe. — Ruta Sepetys

Evil will rule until good men or women choose to act. — Ruta Sepetys

The truck stopped in front of the hospital. Everyone seemed relieved that they would tend to the bald man's injuries. But they did not. They were waiting. A woman who was also on the list was giving birth to a baby. As soon as the umbilical cord was cut, they would both be thrown into the truck. — Ruta Sepetys

My war had been so long, my winter so cold. But i had made it home. And for the first time in a long time, i was not afraid. — Ruta Sepetys

That doesn't make him a hero. Our country is doomed, don't you see? Our fate is death, no matter whose hands we fall into. — Ruta Sepetys

God, I need that coffee. I feel like a bag of smashed assholes. — Ruta Sepetys

My husband, Andrius, says that evil will rule until good men or women choose to act. I believe him. This testimony was written to create an absolute record, to speak in a world where our voices have been extinguished. These writing may shock or horrify you, but that is not my intention. It is my greatest hope that the pages in this jar stir your deepest well of human compassion. I hope they prompt you to do something, to tell somone. Only then can we ensure that this kind of evil is never allowed to repeat itself. — Ruta Sepetys

Paint it as you see it,' he had said in his lifetime. 'Even if it's a sunny day but you see darkness and shadows. Paint it as you see it — Ruta Sepetys

The books, raped and rummaged of their dignity, lay in heaps on the floor. — Ruta Sepetys

Stalin has stolen more than lands. Hannelore, he has stolen human dignity. I see it in their forlorn eyes and broken posture. It's all the fault of the Communists. — Ruta Sepetys

I'm definitely an advocate of the classic always taking your make-up off at night and always moisturising. I'll have a go at anyone that tells me they don't moisturise! — Ruta Gedmintas

Mother wrapped her arms around Jonas, kissing his hair. — Ruta Sepetys

Terror was out there. And it chased us. — Ruta Sepetys

Hope, like oxygen, is what kept her going. — Ruta Sepetys

That sounded like something Mother would say, throwing color onto a black-and-white picture. — Ruta Sepetys

He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot.
We were about to become cigarettes. — Ruta Sepetys

Mother, why are you breaking your beautiful things?' I asked ...
'Because I love them so much. — Ruta Sepetys

The brutality was shocking. Disgraceful acts of inhumanity. No one wanted to fall into the hands of the enemy. But it was growing harder to distinguish who the enemy was. — Ruta Sepetys

Fear is a hunter. But — Ruta Sepetys

A guilty conscience is not worth extra food. — Ruta Sepetys

They drink like fish and ask the most probing questions."
"Welcome to the South." Patrick laughed. — Ruta Sepetys

There was no 'Miss Woodley.' There was Willie. Willie was about life, and she grabbed it by the balls. Y'all know that. She loved a stiff drink, a stiff hundred, and she loved her business. And she didn't judge nobody. She loved everyone equal - accountants, queers, musicians, she welcomed us all, said we were all idiots just the same. — Ruta Sepetys

Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us? The — Ruta Sepetys

Thieves and prostitutes. Our mothers were in that car, along with a teacher, a librarian, elderly people, and a newborn baby - thieves and prostitutes. — Ruta Sepetys

'Between Shades of Gray' is a story of astonishing force. I feel grateful for a writer like Ruta Sepetys who bravely tells the hard story of what happens to the innocent when world leaders and their minions choose hate and oppression. Beautiful and unforgettable. — Susan Campbell Bartoletti

I wanted to stay locked away from the pain and destruction. I didn't want to be strong. I didn't want to be the 'smart girl'. I was so very tired. I just wanted it all to be over. — Ruta Sepetys

What if this is a horrible mistake?" I croaked.
"Oh, it'll be horrible fine, just a bunch of pretentious rich people with shelves of expensive books they've never read. — Ruta Sepetys

I became good at pretending. I became so good that after a while the lines blurred between my truth and fiction. And sometimes, when I did a really good job of pretending, I even fooled myself. — Ruta Sepetys

I was a marionette. He loved pulling the strings. — Ruta Sepetys

I love Between shades of gray — Ruta Sepetys

I left the jutra to chop wood. I began my walk through the snow, five kilometers to the tree line. That's when I saw it. A tiny silver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon.
I stared at the amber band of sunlight, smiling.
The sun had returned.
I closed my eyes. I felt Andrius moving close. "I'll see you," he said.
"Yes, I will see you," I whispered "I will."
I reached into my pocket and squeezed the stone. — Ruta Sepetys

But unlike Mama, I would not go to heaven. My secrets padlocked the gates. I'd be a torn kite stuck in the dead branches of a tree, unable to fly. — Ruta Sepetys

The shoes always tell the story,' said the shoe poet.
'Not always,' I countered.
'Yes, always. Your boots, they are expensive, well made. That tells me that you come from a wealthy family. But the style is one made for and older woman. That tell me they probably belong to your mother. A mother sacrificed her boots for her daughter. That tells me you are loved, my dear. And your mother is not here, so that tells me that you are sad, my dear. The shoes tell the story. — Ruta Sepetys

I felt as if I were riding a pendulum. Just as I would swing into the abyss of hopelessness, the pendulum would swing back with some small goodness. — Ruta Sepetys

Andrius, I'm ... scared."
He stopped and turned to me. "No. Don't be scared. Don't give them anything Lina, not even your fear. — Ruta Sepetys

The German stared at me, a combination of fatigue and frustration. But I understood.
His eyes on the potato said, Emilia, I'm hungry.
The dried blood on his shirt said, Emilia, I'm injured.
But the way he clutched his pack told me the most.
Emilia, don't touch this. — Ruta Sepetys

We pushed to the edge of recklessness, yet I felt safe. — Ruta Sepetys

Abandoned or separated from their families, they were forced to battle the beast of war on their own, left with an inheritance of heartache and resposibility for events they had no rile in causing. — Ruta Sepetys

New Orleans is unlike any city in America. Its cultural diversity is woven into the food, the music, the architecture - even the local superstitions. It's a sensory experience on all levels and there's a story lurking around every corner. — Ruta Sepetys

What was life asking of me? How could I respond when I didn't know the question? — Ruta Sepetys

There's a saying, 'Death hath a thousand doors to let out life; I shall find one.' But the children. That's what I struggle with.' He shook his head. 'Why the children? — Ruta Sepetys

I leapt eagerly into books. The characters' lives were so much more interesting than the lonely heartbeat of my own. — Ruta Sepetys

There are people in your past that you can't shake free from no matter how hard you tried. There's a certain process that you have to go through to say goodbye. That fire doesn't get extinguished. You have to put a gun to it. — Ruta Gedmintas

My biggest fear was that the old Charlie was in there somewhere trying to communicate, but a synaptic disconnect made his behavior erratic. — Ruta Sepetys

Papa said scientists speculated that from the moon, the earth looked blue. That night I believed it. I would draw it blue and heavy with tears. — Ruta Sepetys

Can it really be so hard to die? — Ruta Sepetys

Massachusetts has no idea what's coming for them. I bet you'll be the first Mae West they've ever had. — Ruta Sepetys

Fate is a hunter. Engines — Ruta Sepetys

This town will eat you up if you're not careful. But I won't be here forever. — Ruta Sepetys

Enough studying, Joana. Sometimes living life is more instructive than studying it. — Ruta Sepetys

They have a baby grand piano, but no one in the family plays. They have shelves of books they've never read, and the tension between the couples was so thick it nearly choked us. — Ruta Sepetys

You stand for what is right, Lina, without the expectation of gratitude or reward. — Ruta Sepetys

I tried to sketch but couldn't. When I started to draw, the pencil moved by itself, propelled by something hideous that lived inside of me. — Ruta Sepetys

Shame is a hunter. I — Ruta Sepetys

My breathing slowed. I shaded her thick chestnut hair resting in a smooth curve against her face, a large bruise blazing across her cheek. I paused, looking over my shoulder to make certain I was alone. I drew her eye makeup, smudged by tears. In her watery eyes I drew the reflection of the commander, standing in front of her, his fist clenched. I continued to sketch, exhaled, and shook out my hands. — Ruta Sepetys

Why you frettin', Jo? You not sure?"
I inhaled my tears in order to speak. "I'm sure I want to go, but I'm not sure it's possible.Why would they accept me? And if they did, how would I pay for it? I don't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed. I'm always disappointed."
"Now don't let fear keep you in New Orleans. Sometimes we set off down a road thinkin' we're goin' one place and we end up another. But that's okay. The important thing is to start. I know you can do it. Come on, Josie girl, give those ol' wings a try."
"Willie doesn't want me to."
"So what, you gonna stay here just so you can clean her house and run around with all the naked crazies in the Quarter? You got a bigger story than that. — Ruta Sepetys

I remembered Papa talking about Stalin confiscating peasants' land, tools, and animals. He told them what crops they would produce and how much they would be paid. I thought it was ridiculous. How could Stalin simply take something that didn't belong to him, something that a farmer and his family had worked their whole lives for? "That's communism, Lina," Papa had said. — Ruta Sepetys

It grey louder. Louder. They were singing, singing at the top of their lungs. Andrius joined, and then my brother and the gray-haired man. And finally, the bald man joined in, singing out national anthem. 'Lithuania, land of heroes... — Ruta Sepetys

They got everything money can buy, their bank accounts are fat, but they ain't happy. They ain't ever gonna be happy. You know why? They soul broke. And money can't fix that, no sir. — Ruta Sepetys

So, you hate me?" He laughed.
How could Mother have tolerated Kretzsky? She claimed he had helped her.
"I hate me, too," he said. — Ruta Sepetys

Yet amidst all that, life has spit in the eye of death. — Ruta Sepetys

Revolting. If women were so careless to become pregnant at such a time, let women sort it out. — Ruta Sepetys

I watched from the raft as the beautiful deep began to swallow the massive boat of steel.
In one large gulp." Emilia p341 — Ruta Sepetys

Was it harder to die, or harder to be the one who survived? — Ruta Sepetys

You got to get outta here, Josie. New Orleans is fine for some people, real good for a few. But not for you. Too much baggage that'll pull you down. You got dreams and the potential to make 'em real. — Ruta Sepetys

I'm a binge writer. I work in the music business fulltime, in artist management and developing songwriters and recording artists, and so juggling my job I carve out as much time as I can on the weekends. — Ruta Sepetys

Better that he gets used to it,' he said.
Used to what, the feeling of uncontrolled anger? Or a sadness so deep, like your very core has been hollowed out and fed back to you from a dirty bucket? — Ruta Sepetys

The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is the deadliest disaster in maritime history, with losses dwarfing the death tolls of the famous ships Titanic and Lusitania. Yet remarkably, most people have never heard of it. On January 30, 1945, four torpedoes waited in the belly of Soviet submarine S-13. Each — Ruta Sepetys

Some things just won't go away, no matter how hard you scrub. — Ruta Sepetys

War had rearranged my priorities. I now clung to memories more than goals or material things. But there were a few irreplaceable items that buoyed my spirit and fight for life. It was at that moment that I realized. Something was missing from my suitcase. — Ruta Sepetys

Look at you, locked and loaded, like Mae West of the Motor City. — Ruta Sepetys

One day when I was fourteen, I told Charlie that I hated Mother. "Don't hate her, Jo," he told me. "Feel sorry for her. She's not near as smart as you. She wasn't born with your compass, so she wanders around, bumping into all sorts of walls. That's sad." I understood what he meant, and it made me see Mother differently. But wasn't there some sort of rule that said parents had to be smarter than their kids? It didn't seem fair. — Ruta Sepetys

Did you ever wonder what a human life is worth? — Ruta Sepetys

Seagulls were the souls of dead soldiers. Owls were the souls of women. Doves were the recently departed souls of unmarried girls. Was — Ruta Sepetys

Engrave your pieces, Jo, and they'll always find their way back to you, said Willie. — Ruta Sepetys

Somehow I had to turn the salted peanuts in the cigar box into petits fours. — Ruta Sepetys

What a child does not know and does not want to know of race and colour and class, he learns soon enough as he grows to see each man flipped inexorably into some predestined groove like a penny or a sovereign in a banker's rack. Kibii, the Nandi boy, was my good friend. Arab Ruta (the same boy grown to manhood), who sits before me, is my good friend, but the handclasp will be shorter, the smile will not be so eager on his lips, and though the path is for a while the same, he will walk behind me now, when once, in the simplicity of our nonage, we walked together. — Beryl Markham

I didn't need his criticism. I carried enough guilt on my own. I had done everything wrong. I had the highest marks in school but couldn't master common sense. — Ruta Sepetys

May your fingers never know a fist. May your ears never ring with the call of duty. Before this war is over, all men will have an opportunity to reveal their true selves. I welcome that opportunity. To be a hero requires difficult choices and sacrifice. Each man can respond only when the finger of bravery curls and beckons him forth. That finger, it beckons me, Hannelore. I feel it. — Ruta Sepetys

War is catastrophe. It breaks families in irretrievable pieces. But those who are gone are not necessarily lost. — Ruta Sepetys

Good men are often more practical than pretty " said Mother. "Andrius just happens to be both. — Ruta Sepetys

She must have been a nurse. She looked a few years older than me. Pretty. Naturally pretty, the type that's still attractive, even more so, when she's filthy. — Ruta Sepetys

I was surrounded by hundreds of drowned children, heads in the water, their little feet in the air.
All the little duckies, with their heads in the water
Heads in the water.
It was my punishment. Honor lost. Everything lost.
Shame is a hunter.
My shame was all around me now. — Ruta Sepetys

Ships capacity: 1,463
Passengers on board: 10,573
Lifeboats: 22
But then I remembered.
Ten of the lifeboats were missing — Ruta Sepetys

Embarrased and a bit humiliated, that's how I fel, and dissapointed. Patrick and I made so much sense together. We were comfortable, and he had kissed me. I had constructed the entire scenario in my head of how our relationship would grow and progress. I felt stupid for ever thinkig those things. Patrick's heart belonged to someone else. — Ruta Sepetys

I had said too much. He was giving me the look. I hated the look. It was the "You've had it tough, huh, kid?" look. It made me feel pathetic. — Ruta Sepetys

Jesse motioned to my hair. "Looks like you've been in the bath yourself." He settled into a chair on the front porch.
"I had just washed my hair, but then I had to go shoot someone. Do you want a cold drink? — Ruta Sepetys

She held her breath in one hand and her suitcase in the other. — Ruta Sepetys

Shelves without books were lonely and just plain wrong. — Ruta Sepetys

What had human beings become? Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us? — Ruta Sepetys

Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch. — Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Skadi was four hundred and sixteen years old, with all the pride and knowledge of an adult witch queen. She was wiser by far than any short-lived human, but she had not the slightest idea of how like a child she seemed beside these ancient beings. Nor did she know how far their awareness spread out beyond her like filamentary tentacles to the remotest corners of universes she had never dreamed of; nor that she saw them as human-formed only because her eyes expected to. If she were to perceive their true form, they would seem more like architecture than organism, like huge structures composed of intelligence and feeling.
But they expected nothing else: she was very young. — Philip Pullman

I shut the bathroom door and caught sight of my face in the mirror. I had no idea how quickly it was to change, to fade. If I had, I would have stared at my reflection, memorizing it. It was the last time I would look into a real mirror for more than a decade. — Ruta Sepetys

I think trying to create intimacy on a set with a boom over your head can be a little embarrassing. — Ruta Gedmintas

Patrick wanted someone else. I wanted him to be happy, but why couldn't he be happy with me? I knew the answer. He couldn't choose me. — Ruta Sepetys

Tragedy was a big social event, and everyone wanted in on it. — Ruta Sepetys

My art teacher had said that if you breathed deeply and imagined something, you could be there. You could see it, feel it. During our standoffs with the NKVD, I learned to do that. I clung to my rusted dreams during the times of silence. It was at gunpoint that I fell into every hope and allowed myself to wish from the deepest part of my heart. Komorov thought he was torturing us. But we were escaping into a stillness within ourselves. We found strength there. — Ruta Sepetys

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, you don't know how to dance, do you, Josephine? I didn't know how to dance. I didn't want anything to do with his biscuit. — Ruta Sepetys