Quotes from Ishmael Beah

Elimane had taught the little family to make a point of memorizing the current prices of all sort of commonly needed goods and services; asking the price was essentially announcing your lack of street smarts and pleading to be overcharged.

Now the red caps scanned the crowd for whoever might be eyeing them displeasingly. And yet if you turned away, this might also be interpreted as a sign of disrespect. It was hard to know how, or where, to look. No one with eyes, in other words, was safe

Why was it that those who were about to shatter your lives always demanded order from you, when such directives were invariably a prelude to chaos?

Those who searched the day for something to eat were not interested in documents, sensitive or not.

She was wearing her white uniform and was on her way to take on other traumatized children. It must be tough living with so many war stories. I was just living with one, mine, and it was difficult, as the nightmares about what had happened continued to torment me. Why does she do it? Why do they all do it? I thought as we went our separate ways. It was the last time I saw her. I loved her but never told her.

This is one of the consequences of the civil war. People stop trusting each other, and every stranger becomes an enemy.

I lay in my bed night after night staring at the ceiling and thinking, Why have I survived the war? Why was I the last person in my immediate family to be alive? I didn't know.

This was their code: They were free to do whatever they wanted with what they got on their own, but they had a general understanding that they shared with one another, and even in a state of inebriation, they rarely forgot it.

Every Independence Day since Khoudi could remember, the protests had grown, as people had woken to the irony of celebrating freedoms that existed only on paper.

These days I lived in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which triggered memories from the past.

During this lesson, teach them how to absorb knowledge as opposed to just memorizing. Teach them to become individual thinkers and not part of the majority that agrees with what is popular--afraid to stand alone in their thinking.

How many more times do we have to come to terms with death before we find safety?

Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.

Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.

To survive each passing day was my goal in life. At villages where we managed to find some happiness by being treated to food and fresh water, I knew it was temporary and that we were only passing through. So I couldn't bring myself to be completely happy. It was much easier to be sad than to go back and forth between emotions, and this gave me the determination I needed to keep moving. I was never disappointed, since I always expected the worst to happen.

Our innocence had been replaced by fear and we had become monsters. There was nothing we could do about it.

My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed.

I would try desperately to think about my childhood, but I couldn't. The war memories had formed a barrier that I had to break in order to think

What a constant creation life was! Any day, any hour, any minute, something good or bad happened and became part of you for a lifetime.

Everyone is trying to believe in something these days, and they forget that miracles happen every day when we truly acknowledge the humanity of another or just have a simple, pure conversation with someone else.

Should people take justice in their own hands when their system of law does not function?

I went to the river, dove into the water, and sat at the bottom, but my thoughts followed me.

If anyone had told them that they would look back at this day while having conversations that mended the repetitive brokenness in so many lives, they wouldn't have believe it.

She said that people complain when there is too much sun and it gets unbearably hot, and also when it rains too much or when it is cold. But, she said, no one grumbles when the moon shines. Everyone becomes happy and appreciates the moon in their own special way.