Quotes from Kristin Harmel

Books, wherever they were in the world, always felt like home to her.

Do not be afraid to ask your questions. But you must always be sure your heart is open to hear the answers.

Our greatest accomplishment is not in never failing, but in getting up each time we fail.

Humans had a responsibility to do more than just protect themselves. In the face of evil, they were compelled to save each other.

The universe is always in balance, she said - summer and winter, day and night, sustenance and poison, good and evil. To know the light, you must also know the darkness.

Yes. But there is light, too. In the times of greatest darkness, the light always shines through, because there are people who stand up to do brave, decent things. What I am trying to say, Yona, is that in moments like this, it doesn't matter what you were born to be. It matters what you choose to become.

For when you love, you stand to lose so much. But I think you stand to lose far more when your heart is closed. That is no life.

those "who realize that books are magic… will have the brightest lives.

There's danger in being principled in the midst of a war, but I believe that it's more dangerous not to be." "What do you mean?" He seemed to be searching for the words. "I mean that I would rather die knowing I tried to do the right thing than live knowing I had turned my back. Do you understand?

I look to the right as I cross the bridge and smile to see the tip of the Eiffel Tower soaring over rooftops in the distance on the other side of the river. I've seen it in photographs a thousand times, but seeing it in person for the first time that reminds me that I'm really, truly here, thousands of miles away, across an ocean from home.

endless moments like this stretching before us. I loved him deeply, but I never really knew that every second we had together was a gift until he was gone.

The path of life is darkest when we choose to walk it alone.

Was it possible that one sin could stain your soul forever? Or could one do enough good that a mistake of such magnitude could eventually be erased?

But if there's one thing I've learned since the start of the war, it's that as long as we believe, we take our faith with us, whatever we do, wherever we go, if our motives are pure.

I think its just human nature to wish that the people who are gone from our lives are going to come back.

Yes, I am Jewish," she says. "But I am also Catholic." She pauses and adds, "And Muslim too." ... "It is all the same, is it not? It is mankind that creates the differences. That does not mean it is not all the same God.

Every time someone hurts you, you carry a little piece of that with you. When it's one of the people who's supposed to love you most in the world, well, I'd imagine that takes a whole chunk out of your faith in humanity.

But the forest knew no difference when it came to race, religion, or gender; it smiled and frowned upon all of them in equal measure,

I am, too, but the greatest deeds in life require us to rise above our fear.

My point is that every parent wants what is best for his or her child. But we are all guilty of seeing things through the lens of our own lives. We forget sometimes that it is your life to live.

One must never question God, Jerusza had always told her. It is our job on earth only to seek to understand him, never to doubt his will.

Lives are circles spinning across the world, and when they're meant to intersect again, they do. There's nothing we can do to stop it.

When you're young, you see only the future. When you grow older, you see the past.

Loss would forever be etched on the child like a tattoo; it might fade over time, but it would never be erased.