438 Days Quotes

“Everything will work out... don't give up hope, remain calm.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“[...] what else motivated him to spend hour after hour with me, telling all the details of his story? I quote at length his answer.

"I suffered so much and for so long. Maybe if people read this they will realize that if I can make it,they can make it. Many people suffer only because of what happens in their head; I was also physically being tortured. I had no food. No water. If I can make it so can you. If one depressed person avoids committing suicide then the book is a success.

Be strong. Think positive. If you start to think to the contrary, you are headed to failure. Your mind has to be relaxed as you think about survival. Don't think about death. If you think you are going to die, you will die. You have to survive and think about the future of your life, that life is beautiful! How can you imagine taking your own life? There are challenges and punishment in life but you have to fight!”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“How many of us appreciate the joys of a simple tortilla?”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“There's a lot of talk these days about a thing called resilience. That's the in term at the moment," says Dr. John Leach, a survival psychologist. "You've got built-in resilience, so you can bounce back when you get knocked [down] by a survival situation. My argument with that is that if you've gone through a survival situation, you've gone through a POW camp, or you've been taken hostage, or you've been through sea survival, you will not be bouncing back to what you were before. You will not be bouncing back to who you were before. Because you won't be the same person. If you think you are meant to be the same person, you can have problems. You've had an experience that has changed you. Coupled with that is that the society, the world you're coming back to, has certainly changed in their perception of you. They don't know how to handle you. Normally, most survivors want above all to be treated as normal. But the rest of the world can't treat them as normal.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“Alvarenga believed he didn’t need a doctor to diagnose what was wrong. He was suffering from a yearlong tortilla drought.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“Although Alvarenga was unaware, he carried the optimum body type and precise age for an extreme survival situation. He was exceptionally strong but not too tall or muscled to require massive caloric intake, and at thirty-four years old near the perfect vortex of maximum strength and maximum experience.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“It was not the magical moment of bonding that either had imagined, but at least it was no longer a fantasy.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“They didn’t have enough time to haul in the entire line—instead he would cut it off. He knew it was thousands of dollars’ worth of line and hooks that would float away, with hundreds of dollars’ worth of catch still hooked, but the storm was turning ugly. Alvarenga”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“Though they shared the same boat, the two men were veering off on different trajectories.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“Alvarenga next invented games with the animals. He used a dried puffer fish as a soccer ball and tossed it midship, which became “midfield.” Because it was covered in spines the birds could not puncture the balloonlike fish, but due to their hunger they struck it again and again, flipping the “ball” from one end of the “field” to the other. To stir up action Alvarenga tossed chunks of fish and bird entrails across the deck, then watched as the captive birds attacked and chased the puffer fish. He named one bird Cristiano Ronaldo, another Rolando and put Maradona and Messi on the same team. Alvarenga spent entire afternoons as both fan and announcer, immersed in this world of bird football. His favorite matches were Mexico vs. Brazil. In this world, Mexico always won.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: One man's incredible story of survival against all odds

“Dr. John Leach, a survival psychologist. “You’ve got built-in resilience, so you can bounce back when you get knocked [down] by a survival situation. My argument with that is that if you’ve gone through a survival situation, you’ve gone through a POW camp, or you’ve been taken hostage, or you’ve been through sea survival, you will not be bouncing back to what you were before. You will not be bouncing back to who you were before. Because you won’t be the same person. If you think you are meant to be the same person, you can have problems. You’ve had an experience that has changed you.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“The concentration of vitamin C in fish eyeballs has long been sought out by shipwrecked sailors seeking to fend off scurvy.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“While the previously incredulous nonbeliever Alvarenga gathered strength from a higher power, the more devout Córdoba was locked in guilt, terrified of this strange world and convinced he was the ill-fated protagonist in a deadly prophecy. Though they shared the same boat, the two men were veering off on different trajectories.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“We know that people who get seasick are nearly always the first to die in a sea survival scenario,” says Professor Michael Tipton.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“What you can afford to eat is dependent upon your fluid availability,” says Professor Michael Tipton. “When you eat protein this creates ammonia in your body, then urea, which is poisonous to your system. To eliminate urea you need liquid to produce urine. So if you eat a lot of protein you raise your fluid requirements . . . these things are intimately related.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

“Alvarenga began to look forward to his strolls to the store—it not only calmed Córdoba but also allowed him to imagine life on land. Dr. John Leach, senior research fellow in survival psychology at the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth, England, suggests that by nurturing his sick mate, Alvarenga was building a foundation to maintain his own mental health. “If you’ve got a task to do, then you’re concentrating on that task, which provides a degree of meaning in your life. That’s one of the reasons that people like doctors and nurses have quite a high survival rate in concentration camps during wars,” says Leach. “If you’re a doctor or nurse in camp, you’ve got an automatic task, you’ve got a job that gives meaning to your existence, which is looking after others.”
― Jonathan Franklin, 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea