The House of Special Purpose Quotes

“It occurs to me that even though Zoya and I are both still alive, my life is already over. She will be taken from me soon and there will be no reason for me to continue without her. We are one person, you see. We are GeorgyandZoya.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“It's enough to make me laugh. I close the door behind me and sit down again, considering this, and truly, I find it so funny that I laugh until I cry.

And when the tears come I think aah...

So this is what it means to be alone.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“It has always astonished me, Georgy Daniilovich, that those who are most repulsed by autocratic or dictatorial rule are among the first to eliminate their enemies once they take on the mantle of power themselves.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“I turned to leave and was exiting the gates when I heard the sound of feet running quickly along the gravel behind me. I turned and saw Alexei, who showed no sign of slowing down, so I opened my arms and he ran into them, embracing me tightly, his arms wrapped around my neck as I lifted him off the ground.

"I wanted you to know," he said, his voice choked up as if he was trying to stop himself from crying, "I wanted you to know that you can be my brother if you like. As long as you let me be yours.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“Hay veces en que le envidio su juventud, pero trato de no pensar mucho en eso. Un anciano no debe tener celos de aquellos que vienen a ocupar su puesto, y recordar el tiempo en que era joven, sano y viril es un acto de masoquismo que no sirve de nada.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“But they have corrupted history, they know nothing of our struggles. They see Russia in such simplistic terms. The privileged as monsters, the poor as heroes, everyone is the same.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“We had arrived in a strange country to start our lives over again, and every possession that we acquired from that moment forward would reference this new existence. Indeed, we had brought nothing at all from our old lives, except each other.
But that, I believed, would surely be enough.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“uncomfortable as I felt around him, and as much as he repulsed me, it was impossible not to be simultaneously fascinated by him, for his was a consistently intoxicating presence. Whenever I saw him, I found myself in a state of near paralysis. In this, I was not alone. Everyone hated him, but no one could keep their eyes off him.”
― John Boyne, The House Of Special Purpose

“it struck me as extraordinary that the leaders of each of these countries bore such an intimate familial relationship to each other. It was as if the entire matter was nothing more than a childish game: Willy, Georgie, and Nicky running around a garden, setting out their forts and toy soldiers, enjoying an afternoon of great sport until one of them went too far and they had to be separated by a responsible adult.”
― John Boyne, The House Of Special Purpose

“Se me ocurre que, incluso aunque Zoya y yo aún seguimos vivos, mi vida ha concluido ya. No tardaré en perderla y no habrá razón para que continúe sin ella. Verán, es que somos una sola persona. Somos GeorgiZoya.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“A man was standing at the end of the hallway, just outside an open door, from where a great light shone, illuminating him almost as a god.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“-Es muy bueno fingiendo ser alguien que no es -le comenté después a Zoya en el vestíbulo, cuando esperábamos para felicitarlo, sin saber muy bien si con esas palabras pretendía o no halagarlo-. No sé cómo lo hace.

- Yo sí -repuso ella, sorprendiéndome.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“Too many books being produced, that’s the problem. Most of them written by half-wits, atheists or sodomites, but God help us, we’re obliged to carry them all.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“Naturally, I have grown to recognize some of my fellow visitors, the widows and widowers in waiting who wander the corridors in terrified loneliness, deprived for the first time in decades of their favourite person.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“An old man should not resent those who are sent to take his place, and to recall when I was young and healthy and virile is an act of masochism that serves no purpose.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“The night was warmer than most I had known; we could breathe without seeing clouds of unpoken words dissolving into the atmosphere before us.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“You have it." she said. "And for what little it is worth, I hope that it brings you peace.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“They looked at each other in absolute horror, as if they knew that they couldn't possibly control the chain of events set in place by that simple, inevitable meeting. The lives they had lived until that moment had come to an end. And then it didn't matter what happened next, their destinies were already decided.”
― John Boyne, The House of Special Purpose

“peaceful in the knowledge that a long and happy relationship negates the need for constant chatter. Zoya and I had long perfected the art of sitting silently in each other’s company for hours on end, while never running out of things to say.”
― John Boyne, The House Of Special Purpose