Good Night, Mr. Tom Quotes

“The odd thing was that, after he had entered the paint shop, he had felt as if a heavy wave of sadness had suddenly been lifted from out of him. Memories of her didn’t seem as painful as he had imagined.”

“He felt as though he was a different person lying there in the dark. He was no longer Willie. It was as if he had said goodbye to an old part of himself. Neither was he two separate people. He was Will inside and out.”

“Mum had said that if he made himself invisible people would like him and he wanted that very much.”

″‘If I painted the sky,’ she had said one day, ‘I could go through life paintin’ nothin’ else, for it’s always changin’. It never stays still.‘”

“The sores will heal. They healed before. It’s the wounds inside that will take the longest to heal.”

“Better to accept than pretend that he never existed.”

″‘I must be good,’ he whispered urgently. ‘I must be good,’ and he rubbed a sore spot on his arm. He was such a bad boy. Mum said she was kinder to him than most mothers. She only gave him soft beatings.”

“Mum said war was a punishment from God for people’s sins, so he’d better watch out. She didn’t tell him what to watch out for, though.”

“Tom was angry. ‘While you’re in my house,’ he said in a choked voice, ‘you’ll live by my rules. I ent ever hit a child...‘”

″‘Nine on Thursdee,’ he remarked. ‘Your birthday’s in five days’ time.′ Willie didn’t understand what was so particularly special about that.”