Forge Quotes

“This camp is a forge for the army; it's testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“I embarked on a campaign of honey and kindness, which, if you've never tried it, is very hard to do with someone who thinks you are chickenhearted and has in the past called you a poxy sluggard. It is especially hard if every day you are plagued with fear about what might happen next.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“Broken leaves flew into the air from the violence of his thrashing, and the gore and blood kept pouring from the black hole in his belly and from his mouth - surely enough blood for ten men, a sight horrid enough to make God Himself weep - and suddenly, his boots stopped running and his form stilled and then......Death caught him.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“There was a loud shuffling above. A line of redcoats took their position at the edge of the ravine and aimed down at the rebels.
"Present!" the British officer screamed to his men.
"Present!" yelled the American officer. His men brought the butts of their muskets up to their shoulders and sighted down the long barrels, ready to shoot and kill.
I pressed my face into the earth, unable to plan a course of escape. My mind would not be mastered and thought only of the wretched, lying, foul, silly girl who was the cause of everything.
I thought of Isabel and I missed her.
"FIRE!”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“The fat, pumpkin-colored moon rose, turning bloodstains into shadows. All of the colors of shirts and jackets and uniforms paled to the same shade of gray.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“What if a king made bad laws; laws so unnatural that a country broke them by declaring its freedom?” He threw his arms in the air. “Now you are spouting nonsense. Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England. Not the same at all.” “How is it then that the British offer freedom to escaped slaves, but the Patriots don’t?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“His Excellency today appealed to the Officers of this Army to consider themselves as a band of brothers cemented by the justice of a common cause.
-General Orders of George Washington, Valley Forge”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“We'd itch the vermin feasting on our flesh and share the day's many rumors:

The King had declared peace.
No, the King was sending German and Russian mercenaries to destroy us.


A ball of fire as big as a man's head fell from heaven to Hatboro - a good omen. But there'd been an earthquake near York just as a cat gave birth to puppies, which meant the worst.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“Let me ask you something. We’re fighting for freedom, right?” I picked my words carefully. “So why is that man allowed to own Baumfree and Bett?” “Well,” he said slowly, “we’re fighting for our freedom. Not theirs.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“This camp is a forge for the army; it’s testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of?” The”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“LIBERTY IS EQUALLY AS PRECIOUS TO A BLACK MAN, AS IT IS TO A WHITE ONE, AND BONDAGE EQUALLY AS INTOLERABLE TO THE ONE AS IT IS TO THE OTHER . . . . AN AFRICAN, OR A NEGRO MAY JUSTLY CHALLENGE, AND HAS AN UNDENIABLE RIGHT TO HIS LIBERTY: CONSEQUENTLY, THE PRACTISE OF SLAVE-KEEPING, WHICH SO MUCH ABOUNDS IN THIS LAND IS ILLICT. —ESSAY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN AMERICAN LEMUEL HAYNES, VETERAN OF THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON E”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“IT WOULD BE USELESS FOR US TO DENOUNCE THE SERVITUDE TO WHICH THE PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN WISHES TO REDUCE US, WHILE WE CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR FELLOW CREATURES IN SLAVERY JUST BECAUSE THEIR COLOR IS DIFFERENT FROM OURS. —SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, WHO PURCHASED WILLIAM GRUBBER IN 1776 AND DID NOT FREE HIM UNTIL 1794 O”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“AS THE GENERAL IS INFORMED, THAT NUMBERS OF FREE NEGROES ARE DESIROUS OF INLISTING, HE GIVES LEAVE TO THE RECRUITING OFFICERS TO ENTERTAIN THEM, AND PROMISES TO LAY THE MATTER BEFORE THE CONGRESS, WHO HE DOUBTS NOT WILL APPROVE OF IT. —GENERAL ORDERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON T”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“I HEARD BULLETS WHISTLE AND BELIEVE ME, THERE IS SOMETHING CHARMING IN THE SOUND. —LETTER FROM THE TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD GEORGE WASHINGTON DESCRIBING HIS FIRST TASTE OF BATTLE T”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“A good thief can lie to everybody but himself - Cruzon”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“OUR FREEDOM DEPENDS ON THE EXERTIONS OF A FEW PATRIOTIC INDIVIDUALS. IT IS WITH GRIEF THAT WE LEARN THAT THE CONGRESS IS MADE UP OF SO FEW OF THEM. —DIARY OF CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL, PHILADELPHIA PHARMACIST”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“WE HAVE IT IN OUR POWER TO BEGIN THE WORLD OVER AGAIN. . . . THE BIRTH - DAY OF A NEW WORLD IS AT HAND. —THOMAS PAINE, COMMON SENSE”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“The shape of my life had altered when Bellingham enlisted me. It changed again when I escaped the prison. It shattered when Isabel left.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“There is one good thing about not eating,” I said. “What would that be?” Greenlaw asked. “We’ve got nothing to fart with.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“One night the cook served us beans and more beans for dinner. Instead of sleeping, we farted all night long, which caused”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“snores and farts,”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“The American Revolution was the last war in which black and white Americans served in integrated units until the Korean War in 1950.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“I HAD THOUGHT ONLY SLAVERY DREADFUL, BUT THE STATE OF A FREE NEGRO APPEARED TO ME NOW EQUALLY SO AT LEAST, AND IN SOME RESPECTS EVEN WORSE, FOR THEY LIVE IN CONSTANT ALARM FOR THEIR LIBERTY. —OLAUDAH EQUIANO, MARINER AND FORMER SLAVE”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“THE MAN THAT SAYS SLAVES BE QUITE HAPPY IN SLAVERY—THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO BE FREE—THAT MAN IS EITHER IGNORANT OR A LYING PERSON. —MARY PRINCE, BORN 1778, THE FIRST WOMAN TO WRITE ABOUT HER LIFE IN SLAVERY”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“Let me ask you something. We’re fighting for freedom, right?” I picked my words carefully. “So why is that man allowed to own Baumfree and Bett?” “Well,” he said slowly, “we’re fighting for our freedom. Not theirs.” He crossed his arms, uncrossed them, put his hands on his belt and crossed his arms again. “Nobody in my family owns slaves, you know.” “That is not the point. Do you think only white people can be free?” “Of course not. There are plenty of free blacks, like you and those other fellows in Saratoga and Albany. We had a family two villages over from mine, they were all free black people.” “But the colonel’s slaves are not allowed to be free.” He frowned. “They can’t be free, Curzon. They’re slaves. Their master decides for them.” “What if they ran away?” “Then they’d be breaking the law.” “Bad laws deserve to be broken.” “Don’t talk like that!” He kicked a rock deep into the field. “You want to get in trouble? Laws have to be followed or else you go to the jail.” “What if a king made bad laws; laws so unnatural that a country broke them by declaring its freedom?”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“IT WOULD BE USELESS FOR US TO DENOUNCE THE SERVITUDE TO WHICH THE PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN WISHES TO REDUCE US, WHILE WE CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR FELLOW CREATURES IN SLAVERY JUST BECAUSE THEIR COLOR IS DIFFERENT FROM OURS. —SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, WHO PURCHASED WILLIAM GRUBBER IN 1776 AND DID NOT FREE HIM UNTIL 1794”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“Our army was ready to go to war. When the Continental army marched out of Valley Forge, we would be hidden in the middle of it.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“It means, ‘You are my heart.’” I leaned forward, took her hands in mine, and whispered into her ear. “You have always been my heart, Country.” Before I could kiss her, Isabel kissed me.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“Now I knew. I would fight the eagle and the chains and that mountain as long as I had breath.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge

“The officer kicked the stool away. This time the rope did not break.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Forge