The Room of Lost Steps Quotes

“There’s nobody whom I admire more in this world than those who fight for justice even though they’re doomed to fail.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“He calls himself a revolutionary, but he hates revolution, just like he hates freedom. Power is what he wants. Always power. And no one can stop him getting it because he’s the one supplying the arms.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“No one was free. People were subjected to power or enthralled by power. For now, and as it ever shall be.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“All that hope, all that belief that he could make a difference in the world, reduced to dust in six short months.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“Theo remembered Durruti’s tight embrace, the oxlike strength of his body, and the utter certainty in his voice—“We’re going to be free, Theodore.” But he’d been wrong. No one was free. People were subjected to power or enthralled by power. For now, and as it ever shall be. Theo had learned that much.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“Show me the evidence!” Theo demanded. “You know I can’t do that. You’ll just have to take my word for it.” “How can I when it makes no sense? You’re the cleverest person I know, Esmond, and I don’t think you believe this nonsense any more than I do. You’re just saying there’s a conspiracy because it justifies what you’re doing, and then you try to drag as many poor fools into it as you can—”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“Power is what he wants. Always power. And no one can stop him getting it because he’s the one supplying the arms. The Republic needs him to survive, and so they’ve done a deal with the Devil. And we all know what happens when you do that.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“International Brigades—Theo turned the words over in his mind and felt their romance kindling a fire in his heart. Men from different countries and different walks of life coming together to defeat Fascism.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“He hated the soldiers and their guns. Hated their arrogant belief that they were entitled to impose their will on their countrymen when they should be defending them instead. Hated their willingness to take away a people’s right to choose, its right to hope.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“You could not stand idly by and acquiesce while innocent people were stripped of their rights and imprisoned and attacked with mustard gas from the sky, just because they were Jewish or African or believed in freedom and justice. You had to stand up and be counted, and it seemed to Theo that this was what each athlete was pledging to do as the band struck up “The Internationale” and they began to march around the stadium, singing with their hands held over their fast-beating hearts.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“Someone pointed the finger at him and called him a Red, and Saint Pete’s kicked him out. It’s happening all the time back home. Land of the free is the one thing our country isn’t!”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“No one was free. People were subjected to power or enthralled by power. For now, and as it ever shall be. Theo had learned that much. He stayed in the shadows as”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps

“Are states going to set up the terrible precedent of bowing before force? . . . It is international morality at stake . . . It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.”
― Simon Tolkien, The Room of Lost Steps