Daughter of Moloka'i Quotes

“marveled at how two souls - two completely different species - could make each other so happy. If you were kind to animals, they repaid that kindness a thousandfold. People disappointed; animals never did.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“It is enough for me to know that I left something of beauty behind and that it has thrived. I am content.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Let the things of long ago drift away on the water.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Kindness is scarce in the world”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Aloha means to see the 'uhane—the living spirit, immortal soul, whatever you call it—in everyone you meet.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Love and a cough cannot be hidden.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Ruth marveled at how two souls— two completely different species— could make each other so happy. If you were kind to animals, they repaid that kindness a thousandfold.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Her grief was a storm, a driving rain falling too fast to be absorbed”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“People disappointed; animals never did.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“She learned what 'ohana truly meant, and that she was a part of it. She began to understand that none of this could replace or usurp the family she had always known, but only enriched what she already possessed. With wonder and a growing absence of fear she realized: I am more than I was an hour ago.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“She listened to a life's story that was, she discovered, richer than it was sad.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Let the things of long ago drift away on the water”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Gaman was a word rooted in Buddhism that meant "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity." Ruth had heard her father use it often after they moved to California. And now, after they had endured so much already, here they were, once more forced to gaman.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“If you were kind to animals, they repaid that kindness thousandfold. People disappointed; animals never did.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“What does the proverb say? 'Let things of long ago drift away on the water.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“I am secure in the knowledge that I am the mother of your heart," Etsuko said, smiling. "But she is the mother of your blood. She deserves to see what a fine woman you have become”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“To Ruth, at first, the Japanese words were unintelligible, like one of the sinister magic spells, spoken in Hawaiian, in the ghost stories Maile used to tell. But over the next four months, Ruth's six-year-old brain soaked up both the English alphabet and the Chinese kanji characters as a sea sponge absorbs water, and within four months she was able to join in reciting the kokun and understood it to mean:

Let us become worthy individuals.
Let us study together in a friendly atmosphere.
Let us take care of our health by eating properly.
Let us be good to our parents.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Over the course of the next year, three more couples would ask to see Ruth. With each request her heart soared like a kite and after each rejection she was dashed to earth, convinced there was something lacking in her. She was hapa, half, incomplete. Half a cookie; who would want that? And eventually she learned a valuable lesson: she learned not to hope.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you, God, for everything, Amen.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“At least I know today that I will not have to wait that long.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“to the late Mrs. Tsukamoto I offer my kansha—my gratitude and appreciation—for her work.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“She remembers the pain of losing him, but she smiles at the happiness he brought her, cherishing the joy she felt at his side.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“I'm lucky, you see: I had two mothers. One gave life to me; one raised me. But they both loved me. You know, some people don't even get that once... There's only one disadvantage, really, to having two mothers. You know twice the love... but you grieve twice as much.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“We are together, all else can be endured.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Then his attention was caught by the bird of paradise.
"So that's what that looks like?" he asked. "Like one of the paper cranes we had to burn after Pearl Harbor." He took a step closer. "That fiery orange blossom - damned if it doesn't look like a phoenix rising from the ashes."
Ruth understood, at last, what the crane flower had represented to her mother. It wasn't Hawai'i, as much as she had loved Hawai'i. It wasn't good fortune; and it wasn't longevity. No, not even that.
It was rebirth.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“After an hour, Donnie emerged from the water, suitably impressed. "This place is incredible! The coral comes in so many different shapes - some look like trees, some like flowers, some like human brains - and in so many colors! And I didn't touch a singe one, tutu just like you said."
Rachel smiled. "Your ancestors would be proud. There's an old Hawaiian saying: 'The land is the chief, man is its servant."
Donnie considered that. "Does that include the ocean?"
"Yes. Haleola told me that to ancient Hawaiians the aina - the land, sea and air - were all interconnected. The aina provided all the basics of life, and so they respected and cared for it.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Aloha means to see the 'uhane—the living spirit, immortal soul, whatever you call it—in everyone you meet. I’ve done my best to live up to that.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Ruth marveled at how two souls—two completely different species—could make each other so happy. If you were kind to animals, they repaid that kindness a thousandfold. People disappointed; animals never did.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“There might be more to the universe than any one religion could explain.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

“Impermanent are all component things,
They arise and cease, that is their nature:
They come into being and pass away,
Release from them is bliss supreme.”
― Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i