Aidan Chambers Quotes

“The familiar hated affliction--feeling awkward, foolish, inept, embarrassed-- surged through him, but for once he did not care and paid it no attention. The mouse dream fitted through his mind. Then he thought of Anne Frank and of his visit to her house--no, not her house, her museum--that morning. And now this and these tears. All somehow connected.”

“I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

“He thought: How difficult it is to explain yourself to yourself. Sometimes there only is, and no knowing.”

“Maybe we should always start everything from the inside and work to the outside, and not from the outside to the inside. What d’you think?”

“It is better to go with the flow or let the flow go?”

“He shifted in his seat and smiled secretly. The pleasure of self-discovery.”

“Never had I uttered such a speech before. Never had I thought myself capable of it. Never have I made such a speech again. Because, perhaps, never did such anger seize me as possessed me that day. Upstairs in the ruins of my home foreign soldiers were fighting for my country. Here in the cellar I was fighting for myself.”

“Remembering home he suddenly became inward and didn’t want to say any more about all that. He dabbed flakes of croissant on to a finger-end and licked them away.”

“Think, my dear. We owe it to these people. They’ve come to help us. We must do what we can to help them. And think of our daughter. Isn’t it natural she wants to play her part? When this horror is over, what would you have her say, that she had to stand by and watch while others took all the risks?”