Home > Work > Never Stop Walking: A Memoir of Finding Home Across the World
1 " I've never felt the need to find out who I am, where I come from, or why I was abandoned. I know who I am, where I come from; most of all I know that I wasn't abandoned. Kidnapping might be too strong a word to use for how our adoption transpired, but sometimes that's what it felt like. "
― Christina Rickardsson , Never Stop Walking: A Memoir of Finding Home Across the World
2 " Missing someone doesn’t have anything to do with how long it’s been since you last saw each other, or the number of hours that have passed since you last spoke. It’s about specific moments when you wish they were there by your side. "
3 " as if you weren’t a human among other humans. "
4 " What I didn’t know then was that when you try to hold on to the past as hard as I was, you sometimes miss out on living in the present. I wish that someone had told me, Christina, live in the moment and dream of the future. That doesn’t mean you lose yourself. But stopping where you are now will cost you more than you can imagine. "
5 " This is the story of my childhood in Brazil, about the culture shock I experienced when I arrived in the forests of northern Sweden and about the loss of the "
6 " Love can’t be bought, manufactured, or elicited on request. It’s a gift that we choose to give and to receive. It’s unselfish and maybe it can’t move mountains, but it can do something even better: it can save a life. "
7 " It’s not where you come from; it’s where you belong that matters. And it’s OK to feel like you belong in more than one place. "
8 " I was tough, and I could handle things on my own. I was too proud to ask for help, a weakness that has followed me for a large part of my life. "
9 " It’s not where you come from; it’s where you belong that matters. "
10 " On some level, I began to understand that people, especially grown-ups, weren’t interested in the truth but rather in a truth that suited them. They only wanted to know about things that made stuff easier for them. "
11 " Over the years, I’ve had people tell me that I should feel grateful for getting a chance at a better life, and it has really irritated me. We humans have a strong tendency to universalize our own opinions, thoughts, and feelings and assume they apply to other people. No one but me knows what I feel and what I’ve been through. And it’s really not up to anyone else to say what I should and shouldn’t feel. "
12 " The tears of the powerless are not tears of frustration. They’re not tears that gush or tears that burn. The tears of the powerless are silent and resigned. "
13 " She is literally an Amazon woman. She comes from the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil and is exactly the person I need now, "
14 " Anyone who claims that blood is thicker than water, that the ties in a family who share the same genes are stronger, does not understand how love works. "
15 " We never know our strength until life tests us. But most of all, we don’t know what strength and power another person has until we follow them for a while on their journey. "
16 " I can’t meditate. Over the years, I’ve tried various methods of finding the way to that peaceful silence within. How people manage to do that is a mystery to me. "
17 " I don’t believe that life is about finding yourself. For me, life is about creating your own reality. "
18 " I believe that everything comes when we’re ready, and once we’ve opened a door, it can be hard to shut again. "
19 " Some scars never leave the body. "
20 " Christiana, life is terrible and unfair sometimes, but never stop walking. Always keep walking,” she told me. I remember wondering why. “Because after everything that’s happened to us, our hearts want what’s good, and our hearts can’t be the only things that want that. You’re not alone, because there are people who see you and watch over you. Do you understand? "