The Immortals Quotes

“The Nazis didn’t kill them. They chose to die so others could live. So did Charles. He carried precisely zero burden to help anyone. His efforts were his choice. He was a victim to no one.”
― Steven T. Collis, The Immortals: A WWII Story of Four Heroic Chaplains, the Sinking of the SS Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue: The World War II Story of Five ... the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue

“It was a moment many probably wished would last forever, the kind of ephemeral glimpse that proved Hitler wrong and humanity right. People with vast differences could unite and thrive together; they could lift each other, forgive, ignore the temptation for prejudice, embrace common causes without sacrificing their core identities, and set aside their disagreements to focus on areas where they did agree. Unity didn’t need to come at the expense of identity.”
― Steven T. Collis, The Immortals: A WWII Story of Four Heroic Chaplains, the Sinking of the SS Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue: The World War II Story of Five ... the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue

“As his comments made clear, in the days that would come, what the world would need were not men who sacrificed the core of who they were just to get along with others. It would need men whose foundation was so solid, they did not feel the need to oppress others.”
― Steven T. Collis, The Immortals: A WWII Story of Four Heroic Chaplains, the Sinking of the SS Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue: The World War II Story of Five ... the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue

“I knew a chaplain once, who, when he went on maneuvews [sic] always dropped back in the line towards the close of the day and somewhere he would find a young soldier who would be having trouble carrying his rifle along with his pack so the chaplain would carry his rifle for him. That, Chaplains, is your job—to carry rifles for the boys and they will not always be of wood and steel but burdens, problems, sins and sorrows.”
― Steven T. Collis, The Immortals: A WWII Story of Four Heroic Chaplains, the Sinking of the SS Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue: The World War II Story of Five ... the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue

“The United States has always been two countries: its ideal and its reality. Both exist side by side, never fully aligned, one always tailing the other. Still, in the Army Chaplain Corps during and building up to World War II, we see men pressing toward a reality that would be far better than the past, even if it was not yet perfect.”
― Steven T. Collis, The Immortals: A WWII Story of Four Heroic Chaplains, the Sinking of the SS Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue: The World War II Story of Five ... the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue