When the Elephants Dance Quotes

“When you start to say to yourself, just one look back, just one glance, the danger will have begun for you.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“My heart aches for my people. I don’t understand why God gives more power to some and less to others.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Do not try to force yourself back into this old life. It is like trying to fit into a pair of old trousers once you have grown taller. It no longer suits you. It never will again. It is best to admit this, lest you force the fit and look ridiculous. Better for the pants, better for you, better for all who would see you wear them.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“I know one thing. If you let your personal hate interfere, you will bury your cause.” We”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“You carried your visions as a burden, but it was a gift. You still think of it as such. You think He above would reward you after what you have done? You have ruined lives with your obsession. It became your curse. When have you known a gift to be given twice? Once the package is open, is it still a gift?”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Your sight will be lost. It is not too late. You are humble still, pure. Let go of this fascination with earthly riches. You have so much more than they.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“P APA SAYS THAT THE P HILIPPINES is far, far behind the other countries. He says that we are like abused children who have never been allowed to grow. How can we care for ourselves when we have always been told what to do? How can we stand together when so much division has been created between us”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“P APA EXPLAINS THE WAR LIKE THIS: “When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.” The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chicken”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“You pushed our relationship out into the open. You have made public what I was considering in private. Now I must make a public decision. The only recourse for me is to marry a girl of my status. I cannot embarrass my family by marrying below us. I could not shame them that way, after all they have done for me. I am bound by them. I cannot make them a laughingstock in their own community. That is not how a son repays his family. I would ruin the reputation of my brothers and sisters. There are ties, Carlito, invisible ties that one owes to one’s parents. We must honor our obligations, despite our true wishes. We must do this out of respect. You understand?”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Do not hold this pain of what has happened to you close to your heart, Isabelle. You must let it go. No matter matter how painful. It will ruin you. If you keep silent, if you swallow it, it will eat you liked cancer.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“God helps those who help themselves.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“When you begin to think of returning to your old life, flee, flee to the opposite direction. Or it will be very bad for all concerned. For then you will be divided, and then you will be of no use to anyone.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Remember the woman at Sodom and Gomorrah whose husband told her not to look back, as the angel of God had instructed? And what did she do? She looked back one last time, and turned to a pillar of salt.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“do not confuse what you hope to accomplish with your personal anger. It will only muddy things.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Do not let your anger misguide you, my friend.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“mine is not the only family to consider. There are many others that may die if none of us were to fight. You see how many volunteer to go up against the enemy now? Me alone in this room of hundreds. If no one fights, then I will have the satisfaction of saving only my family above the thousands more. I could not live with that. If I lead my men, if we assist the Amerikanos in our own way, then many more may be saved. You yourself saw how being selfish served you. Only your family became rich, the others in your village lost everything.” Mang”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“When there is no family, what else is there to fight for? I was blinded with obsession, for something that could never fill me. I lost everything that mattered.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“You cannot have both. Riches and purity do not match. Humility hates pride.” He paced in a circle. “You have been warned.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Be glad that you have your health. Do not always be so concerned with money,” my father said.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Domingo, your family needs you. Let me explain why I feel strongly that you must stay with them. I had a family once too that loved me. But I made a mistake. I was lured away by other things. When I realized they were what mattered, it was already too late.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Family is important above all else.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“we must be thankful that we are all together. And we must believe that there is a reason we are still alive,”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“I must wait, bide my time. There will be an opportunity. I need only keep my eyes open. Back”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Yet I see that she means for me to understand about choosing to truly live or choosing to stay alive when you have died inside.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“Our experiences are different, yet they could have the same ending. Only you are young yet, you still have a choice. Do not hold this bitterness to you. Crush it and let it fly away. Both of you, start anew, leave the bitterness behind.” When”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“only later, when we had wasted so much time, was I able to see that I had thrown away my chances at happiness. So I have learned to let go of anger, to never let it wrap its talons around me again.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“I did not attend her anniversary gathering. I knew it would not bring her back. I didn’t want to remember anymore. It was too painful. The”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“I had decided the best way to breach our distance was to forget the past and start new.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“I thought to myself how lucky, how lucky that I jumped at my only chance when I could. Sure, I did not love him, but I was loved. I had everything Corazón had wanted. I had beaten her at every round, yet I felt nothing but a devastating emptiness inside. Y”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance

“The doors to my heart had shut. I had only hate inside me, complete hate. I felt as if my life were just a series of betrayals. So when Jamie, the one good thing, finally arrived, I was too hardened. Like a dried-up grape, nothing could bring back my sweetness.”
― Tess Uriza Holthe, When the Elephants Dance