How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It is when success seems to be almost in your grasp that you become aware of how fragile is human existence, and of the unending possibility, almost the inevitability, of failure. And this makes you hesitate. (2.42)
Right from the start, we know the book is going to ask us to think about some deep stuff concerning life, and boy, does it not disappoint. Geertrui explains how it feels to live through war, not by focusing on death, but through her life experiences.
Quote #2
Sometimes you live more life in an hour than in most weeks, and sometimes it is possible to live more in a few weeks than in all the rest of your life. This is how those days in 1944 are to me. And also I know what was said in that other language I already loved because, as I shall explain you, these events during the battle were later talked over with Jacob again and again. (5.28)
Life isn't a game. Geertrui thinks about how life never goes at the same pace—sometimes it speeds up, and other times it slows down. Sadly, you don't get to control the pace.
Quote #3
It is as well that the future is ever an unread book, for had I known I would never see Papa again, I could not have left him. Such accidents of fate suffered in one's youth return to haunt one with irrational guilt in old age. If only I had been there, I might have helped him survive. If only. By the time one is old, one is rich in this currency. (7.64)
Geertrui's memoir weaves the past, present, and future together, and here is no different. She admits that when saying goodbye to her dad, it was difficult, but it would have been ten times harder had she known it would be the last time she ever saw him. While she's got the benefit of looking back on her life, the Geertrui in the moment doesn't—and neither do we.
Quote #4
"Some people argued that everybody should have the right to die decently. To make decisions about their own death. We didn't ask to be born, they said, but at least we should have some say in our own death. Especially when we can't, you know—function properly any more … It's a question of personal freedom." (9.80)
We're asked to think about some pretty dark topics, like euthanasia. For Geertrui, it's better to die than live with such pain, but not everyone agrees with her. (We're lookin' at you, Tessel.) Ultimately, we're asked to decide what we think about assisted death. Over to you, Shmoopsters.
Quote #5
He had never really liked being a child, had always wanted to be grown up, independent, responsible for himself. Had always wanted to be as free as he could be to live life as he wanted to live it. Even though, he had to admit, he did not yet know exactly how he wanted to live. (11.58)
Well isn't that just perfect—Jacob wants to live, but he's not sure how. He wants to be an adult, but he doesn't think he is yet. Part of Jacob's journey is sorting these big, million-dollar questions out for himself. The answers he comes up with might not be the same for you, but hey, we've all got to figure them out for ourselves.
Quote #6
"Yes, even in your mouse moods you only play with the idea of not being." She cleared her throat again. "Biology, you see. It's because of biology that we want to live and not to die. And it is because of biology that we come to a time when we want to die and not to live." (12.55)
Geertrui thinks it's all just a matter of biology at the end of the day. We all want to keep on living, because that's what our bodies do, and that's how we're made. We wonder if there's more to it than that for Jacob though. He wants to keep on living to experience Anne Frank's diary and this new city full of canals.
Quote #7
They were waiting, and yet they were not waiting. Rather as if what they were waiting for was already with them. There and not there, he thought. Being and not being. Absent presence. (14.80)
At the cemetery, Jacob is both there with Tessel, and not there at the same time, just like how his grandpa is there (literally, in the ground), but he's not because he's already dead. It makes Jacob think about life and how to live, not just exist.
Quote #8
Another lesson, one of the most affecting of my life, in how fragile is human nature. In the moment it took to read her son's letter this mature, experienced, dominant woman disintegrated as if the yarn that held the garment of her self together had been pulled out and she had unravelled into a tangle of twisted thread. (15.2)
We feel for Mrs. Wesseling when her son runs off to war without so much as a goodbye—it changes her into someone more delicate and makes us think that life is the same way. You've probably heard the old saying "life is fragile, handle with care." That definitely rings true here.
Quote #9
"Dead. Life would be dead. If there weren't any ifs we wouldn't be here. Nobody would be. We would not be. So we'd be the same as dead."
"You mean, all life is just one big if?"
"Isn't that obvious?" (15.36)
In his discussion with Hille, Jacob thinks over the idea that all of life is one big question mark. The book certainly makes us think about what the meaning of life is, and if the answer is… that it's an ongoing question. Life really makes us scratch our heads.
Quote #10
There was something more we should do, something we should say. How could this bleak moment be the end? After surviving the battle and his wounds and the journey to the farm and the raids by the Germans, after working so hard to get him well again, after our loving time together, how could it end as it did? How could life be so unfair? (17.58)
When Jacob dies—suddenly—Geertrui is heartbroken. Wouldn't you be if the love of your life dropped dead while dancing with you? She questions life itself because it does seem unfair to her that she should keep on living while her love is dead.