The Silence of Trees Quotes

“Remember that stories are more than just words, more than fairy tales. They are magic.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Shared joy is double joy," he said brushing a tear from my cheek, "and shared sorrow is half the sorrow.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“When he looks into your eyes, tells you he loves you-and the pickled herring and onions are stronger than his voice-yet you still smile. You still want to be close to him. Yes, then you have found love.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Mama. I chose you.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Shared joy is double joy,” he said brushing a tear from my cheek, “and shared sorrow is half the sorrow.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“With food, we feed our bodies. With family, we feed our spirits. And we are family.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“...taught me that the breath is powerful. It carries with it a tiny spark of your soul. To blow on something is to imbue it with your essence and emphasize your intention.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Marriage is about creating a partnership for all kinds of practical reasons—like raising a family, which is easier if you know your partner is going to stay around. It’s also a way to make sure that we don’t die alone. Ultimately,”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“I don’t know you. You are such a mystery to me, all locked up with so many secrets. From you, I learned that some things are best kept to oneself. That we need to protect the ones we love from truths that will hurt them. From you, I learned that silence is an acceptable alternative." She was sobbing through her words, as if each one was growing more difficult for her to say. "But it’s not okay, Mama. It’s not okay. I want to know you, the real you. Before you die.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Back home, it is said that each tree has a spirit who lives inside. Very often those who die pick a tree near their family’s home and stay there as a guardian. I truly believe this, Lesya. My own Baba picked a tree near my house, and I felt her whenever I was there. On full-moon nights I could see a shape shimmering inside the tree, like something dancing. And I would hear her voice on the wind when it rushed through the leaves. Praising. Guiding. Warning.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“Someday, when we are dead and buried, someone will walk past our gravestones and wonder about my secrets, your secrets. Will our wisdom be buried with us? Or will it somehow survive?”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“The secret to peace is sharing meals,” Mama Paraska said before our first official camp dinner of mashed potatoes and spinach. “We will always gather together for the last meal of the day. With food, we feed our bodies. With family, we feed our spirits. And we are family.” Then Father Petrenko would bless our meal with a prayer of thanks.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“My Baba always told me to be careful of the names I would someday choose for my children because the name invoked power from those who had the name before. Names made connections between the dead and the living. But it gave me hope to see the shades of the dead in my flesh and blood.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“This was a man’s war. If only I were a man. I would rip off the lips that had curled around lies and accusations. Tear out a heart that pumped only poison. Pluck out those eyes and crush them in my palms until the poison ran out over my fingers and onto the ground, staining it red. Like the wise witches who could read the future in a black pond or candlelit mirror, maybe in that thick pool of poison I could see the horrors in all their eyes. Maybe then I could understand war.”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees

“be a different kind of life. I named her for my Aunt Katia, Mama’s”
― Valya Dudycz Lupescu, The Silence of Trees