My maternal grandmother was in London during the Blitz. Indeed, the man she was dating before she met my grandfather was killed beside her in a cinema, in 1941, when a bomb came through the roof - a tragedy in which she herself was badly wounded. Chris Cleave More Quotes by Chris Cleave More Quotes From Chris Cleave On the girl's brown legs there were many small white scars. I was thinking, Do those scars cover the whole of you, like the stars and the moons on your dress? I thought that would be pretty too, and I ask you right here please to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived. Chris Cleave girl stars healing A scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived. Chris Cleave dying doe mean Looking after a very sick child was the Olympics of parenting. Chris Cleave olympics sick children We must constantly dare ourselves in the small things, until courage becomes a habit of mind that will serve us when we are unexpectedly tested. Chris Cleave dare habit mind I could not stop talking because now I had started my story, it wanted to be finished. We cannot choose where to start and stop. Our stories are the tellers of us. Chris Cleave stories writing talking At some point you just have to turn around and face your life head on. Chris Cleave turns faces We cannot choose where to start and stop. Our stories are the tellers of us. Chris Cleave stories Sometimes we don't notice that someone is being brave, because they are only doing something that seems quite easy for us. Chris Cleave brave easy sometimes I was carrying two cargoes. Yes, one of them was horror, but the other one was hope. Chris Cleave little-bee horror two It was the month of May and there was warm sunshine dripping through the holes between the clouds, like the sky was a broken blue bowl and a child was trying to keep honey in it. Chris Cleave sunshine clouds children We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, 'I survived'. Chris Cleave dying secret mean At this point in time the war [ WWII] is close enough to still feel hotly personal to a writer, yet far enough away so that jingoism and heroics are no longer required. Chris Cleave jingoism enough war Our stories are the tellers of us. Chris Cleave stories Life is extremely short and you cannot dance to current affairs. Chris Cleave current-affairs affair life-is What is an adventure? That depends on where you are starting from. Little girls in your country, they hide in the gap between the washing machine and the refrigerator and they make believe they are in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around them. Me and my sister, we used to hide in a gap in the jungle, with green snakes and monkeys all around us, and make believe that we had a washing machine and a refrigerator. You live in a world of machines and you dream off things with beating hearts. We dream of machines, because we see where beating hearts have left us. Chris Cleave girl dream country Everyone carries the weight of WWII with them in their recent family history, and yet it is rarely spoken about within families, because veterans and survivors don't tend to talk. Chris Cleave veteran survivor weight You may think that's funny Osama but you never can squeeze every last bit of pride out of a human being. It's like a tube of toothpaste. You can twist it and you can crush it but there's always a tiny bit left isn't there? Chris Cleave crush pride thinking So when I say that I am a refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge. Chris Cleave little-bee refugee refuge The ways in which we are able to express courage also depend on the hand life deals us. Chris Cleave able hands way We leave it up to books and movies to talk about WWII on our behalf. Chris Cleave wwii books-and-movies book
