Home > Work > I Must Betray You
1 " But the person responsible - he wasn't suffering. We were.Our hero, Draculescu, sat in his cardboard castle wearing a hollow crown, surrounding himself with clapping men who bowed to him as the Golden Man of the Carpathians while his people suffered, starved, and lived in terror. "
― Ruta Sepetys , I Must Betray You
2 " Paradise: If communism is Paradise, why do we need barriers, walls, and laws to keep people from escaping? "
3 " How could we expect others to feel our pain or hear our cries for help when all we could do was whisper? "
4 " An old woman is fast asleep when she hears a knock at the door.Who is it? she whispers, terrified.It is death, the voice answers.Oh, good. I thought it might be the Securitate. "
5 " Sorrow. Anger. An expanse of emptiness that takes form as a separate entity living inside of you. It digs, takes root, and dwells there. And somehow, you know that even if it worms its way out, there will be no relief. If it leaves, there will be nothing left but charred remains, like the inside of a house torched by fire. "
6 " Trading Kents for the lives of children. And he said it without hesitation, without the pain and shameful truth it carried—that the guards cared more about nicotine than humans. "
7 " Good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free. "
8 " Your father's hungry, Cristian, literally and figuratively. Ration cards in the 1980s? We had more food during World War II," complained Bunu. "Do you see the lunacy of all this? They've got us brainwashed, standing in lines for hours, grateful for rotten beans. But what is the cost of self-worth? "
9 " Do you hear me?Reciting jokesLaughing to hide the tears of truthThat we are denied the presentWith empty promisesOf an emptier future. "
10 " But I was not going to have a breakdown.I was going to take them all down. "
11 " Will YOU REMEMBER ME? A boy with wings of hope.Strapped to his back.That never had a chance to open, denied Fforever knowing,What he could have become. What we all could have become. "
12 " The State controls the amount of food we eat, our electricity, our transportation, the information we receive. But with philosophy, we control our own minds. What if the internal landscape was ours to build and paint? "
13 " This never knowing, it weakens us,” Bunu would say. “It’s a form of control. They know exactly what they’re doing. "
14 " When we don't know the full story, sometimes we create one of our own. That's what I had done. And that can be dangerous. "
15 " As the saying goes, better to die standing than live kneeling. "
16 " You’re wrong. They steal our power by making us believe we don’t have any. They’re controlling us through our own fear. "
17 " I’ll take it. I’ll keep it locked in the box. Maybe we can trade it for medicine for Bunu.” Cici looked at me, displeased. “A Coke and a dollar. What’s going on, Pui?” she whispered. “Nothing,” I assured her. “Just good luck and bad luck.” Cici nodded slowly, suspicious. “Just remember, Pui, good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free. "
18 " Just remember, Pui, good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free. "
19 " It's all my fault. He was trying to save me.""No. We're all trying to save our country," said Alex. Every one of us. And if you haven't noticed, the young people have been the bravest. No regrets in bravery. "
20 " What is the cost of self-worth? "