Wake Quotes

“And whatever anyone thinks or says, England didn't win this war. And Germany wouldn't have won it, either."

"What do you mean?"

"War wins." He says. "And it keeps winning, over and over again.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“I'll remember you, he thinks, and as the gun carriage, with its coffin and its dented helmet pass him by, he closes his eyes.

Nothing will bring them back. Not the words of comfortable men. Not the words of politicians. Or the platitudes of paid poets.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“I am becoming pagan, Fraser wrote, that first winter. Here, in this muddy brown monotony, where blood’s the only colored thing. There is no God here, only the moon and the sky.
And so I have made a pact with the moon. On clear nights she will bring me to you.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“I see so many women here,” she says, “and they are holding, all of them. Holding on to their sons or their lovers or their husbands, or their fathers, just as surely as they are holding on to the photographs that they keep or the fragments of childhood they bring with them and out on the table here.” She gestures with her hand. “They’re all different but all the same. All of them are afraid to let them go. And if we feel guilt, we find it even harder to release the dead. We keep them close to us; we guard them jealously. They were OURS. We want them to remain ours.” There’s a silence. “But they’re not ours,” she says. “And in a sense, they never were. They belong to themselves, only. Just as we belong to ourselves. And this is terrible in some ways, and in others...it might set us free.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“I see so many women here,” she says, “and they are holding, all of them. Holding on to their sons or their lovers or their husbands, or their fathers, just as surely as they are holding on to the photographs that they keep or the fragments of childhood they bring with them and out on the table here.” She gestures with her hand. “They’re all different but all the same. All of them are afraid to let them go. And I’d we feel guilt, we find it even harder to release the dead. We keep them close to us; we guard them jealously. They were OURS. We want them to remain ours.” There’s a silence. “But they’re not ours,” she says. “And I’m a sense, they never were. They belong to themselves, only. Just as we belong to ourselves. And this is terrible in some ways, and I’m others...it might set us free.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“...c'est encore plus dur de relâcher les morts. On les garde près de nous, on les surveilleparfois jalousement.Ils étaient à nous. On veut qu'ils le restent...
Ils n'appartiennent qu'à eux-mêmes, et seulement à eux. Tout cpmme nous nous appartenons. Et c'est terrible par certains côtés. et par d'autres...ça pourrait nous libérer.”
― Anna Hope, Wake

“War wins,” he says. “And it keeps on winning, over and over again.”
― Anna Hope, Wake