The Boy at the Top of the Mountain Quotes

“Just don't ever tell yourself that you didn't know.... That would be the worst crime of all.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Don't you ever think,' he asked cautiously, 'that it would be better to be a bully than to be bullied? At least that way no one could ever hurt you.'

Katarina turned to him in amazement. 'No,' she said definitively, shaking her head. 'No Pieter, I never think that, not for a moment.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Collars, trench coats or jackboots – uniforms allow us to exercise our cruelty without ever feeling guilt.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Look at me Pieter", she said. He looked up tears in his eyes. "Don't ever pretend that you did not know what was going on here. You have eyes and you have ears. And you sat in that room on many occasions, taking notes. You heard it all. You saw it all. You knew it all. And you also know the things you are responsible for." She hesitated, but it needed to be said. "The deaths you have on your conscience. But you're a young man still; you're only sixteen. You have many years ahead of you to come to terms with your complicity in these matters. Just don't ever tell yourself that you didn't know." She released him now from her grip. "That would be the worst crime of all." - Herta”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Is it really that easy for the innocent to be corrupted?”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“You were such a sweet boy when you first came here. Is it really that easy for the innocent to be corrupted?”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“he could never understand the enjoyment some people got from hurting others. And that, he told Anshel, applied to chickens too.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“a story of a boy who had started out with love and decency in his heart but had found himself corrupted by power. The story of a boy who had committed crimes with which he would have to live for ever; a boy who had hurt people who loved him and been a party to the deaths of those who only ever showed him kindness; who had sacrificed his right to his own name and would have to spend a lifetime trying to earn it back again.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“You heard it all. You saw it all. You knew it all. And you also know the things you are responsible for.’ She hesitated, but it needed to be said. ‘The deaths you have on your conscience. But you’re a young man still, you’re only sixteen; you have many years ahead of you to come to terms with your complicity in these matters. Just don’t ever tell yourself that you didn’t know.’ She released him now from her grip. ‘That would be the worst crime of all.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“You have many years ahead of you to come to terms with your complicity in these matters. Just don’t ever tell yourself that you didn’t know.” She released him now from her grip. “That would be the worst crime of all.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Every girl likes a man in uniform,” said Ernst. “Every girl, perhaps,” remarked Beatrix. “But not every uniform.” “You know why people wear uniforms, don’t you, Pierrot?” continued the chauffeur. The boy shook his head. “Because a person who wears one believes he can do anything he likes.” “Ernst,” said Beatrix quietly. “He can treat others in a way he never would while wearing normal clothes. Collars, trench coats, or jackboots, uniforms allow us to exercise our cruelty without ever feeling guilt.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Le hizo comprender que era posible que el tiempo siguiera su curso, pero que las ideas de algunas personas quedarían enquistadas para siempre.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“You are most welcome,’ replied Hitler. ‘But remember, the boy who wears this uniform must obey our rules and seek nothing more from life than the advancement of our party and our country. That is why we are here, all of us. To make Germany great again.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“uniforms allow us to exercise our cruelty without ever feeling guilt.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“Something must be done. Not just for him but for all the Pierrots out there. The Führer will destroy the whole country if he’s not stopped. The whole of Europe. He says that he is illuminating the minds of the German people—but no, he is the darkness at the center of the world.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“I’m seven,’ said Pierrot, sitting up straight, mortally offended.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“The novel was written by Anshel Bronstein, the boy who had lived in the flat below him as a child. Of course, he remembered, he had wanted to be a writer. It seemed that his ambition had come true.”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain

“retractable roof, a pair of black, white and red”
― John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain