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“There must be a grain of truth in any story, otherwise why sweat blood to tell it?”

“He had vanquished death, he had saved his daughter with a senseless act, he had triumphed over the monstrous extermination machine.”

“Day followed day; train followed train. In the overcrowded wagons, humanity lay dying. And humanity pretended to ignore it.”

“In this mortal world, to gain something is to lose a little something in the process, be it the life of a loved one, or one’s own.”

“Yes, the gods can do good when they reflect and choose to do so.”

“Then he set off at speed, though weaving a little, toward his hut, toward his home, his ax slung over his shoulder, suddenly terrified that he had bellowed his truth, the truth: the heartless have a heart. He was terrified and at the same time relieved and proud, proud to have roared it into the faces of the others, to have freed himself, to have suddenly ended a whole life of submission and silence.”

“The gods cannot think of everything, they have so much to do here below.”

“She feels herself become a mother, at once blissfully happy and terribly anxious. Fulfilled, yet overwhelmed.”

“At every station where it stopped, the were unloaded and the train moved on with the survivors. Sometimes it went back the way it had come, moving in reverse. The train was not headed anywhere, this was the sole purpose of the journey: to stop at each station and unload . . .”

Les jours succédèrent aux jours, les trains aux trains. Dans leurs wagons plombés, agonisait l’humanité. Et l’humanité faisait semblant de l’ignorer.

Quote for class :
Voilà la seule chose qui mérite d’exister dans les histoires comme dans la vie vraie. L’amour, l’amour offert aux enfants, aux siens comme à ceux des autres. L’amour qui fait que, malgré tout ce qui existe, et tout ce qui n’existe pas, l’amour qui fait que la vie continue.

Quote for class :
Elle eut une pensée pour les dieux du train mais ne l’a formula pas, elle n’avait plus confiance en eux. Elle savait que si l’enfant, son enfant avait survécu, ce n’était pas grâce à eux, c’était grâce à la main la lâchant du train sur la neige, grâce à la bonté de l’homme au fusil et à sa chèvre.

Quote for class :
« Les sans-cœurs ont un cœur ! »