How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
But it wasn't until he was in bed that he felt—really felt—just how embarrassed he was. And, for heaven's sake, how could he not have realized that Ton was a boy? Thinking about it now, he knew he'd known all the time. Had sensed it. But he'd wanted Ton to be a girl, had wanted it very much, and wouldn't let himself see that he wasn't. The truth was he'd deceived himself. (3.4)
Hmm… it sounds to us like Jacob is just trying to convince himself he's something he's not. Why does he freak out about being attracted to Ton? The same reason he doesn't really know how to live: he's still figuring out who he is.
Quote #2
"Some people say falling in love is a kind of madness whenever it happens. If that's so, all I can say is I would rather be mad than sane." (4.113)
Alma comforts Jacob when she tells him this, because he's worried he sounds like a circus freak for loving a character. The novel shows us that there are all different kinds of loves—with a person, a city, a character, a memory—and all are important to different people, and at different times.
Quote #3
"I asked Geertrui the other day what she thought love is—real love, true love. She said that for her real love is observing another person and being observed by another person with complete attention. If she's right, you only have to look at the pictures Rembrandt painted of Titus, and there are quite a lot, to see that they loved each other. Because that is what you're seeing. Complete attention, one of the other." (8.61)
Leave it to Geertrui to come up with a beautiful definition of l-o-v-e. If we stop and think about it, there are many characters who love one another by this measure. And it's not limited to just people either—Jacob's love for Anne Frank and Daan's for Rembrandt would easily fall under this category as well.
Quote #4
We all knew of Dirk's feelings for me, he had made them plain enough to his parents as well as myself weeks before. His mind was set on marrying me. In this I had given him no encouragement. Not because I did not like him. No no. He was a handsome young man and one of the kindest, most considerate of people I have known. But I did not love him in the way, I thought then, you ought to love someone if you married him. (10.20)
Poor Dirk—he hearts Geertrui, but she doesn't heart him back. Before you go feeling sorry for Dirk, we should point out that he gets the girl in the end. For Geertrui, sometimes it's not just about love when it comes to marriage.
Quote #5
Never before had anyone held me like this, never before had I felt the intimate shape of a man's body against my own. This itself would have been enough to startle me. Not that I disliked it, not at all. Indeed, while before my heart was beating with dreadful fear, now it beat with excitement. But then something else occurred, something even more startling. I felt Jacob's sex swelling between my thighs. As if it were being inflated by a bicycle pump. (13.26)
Hiding from the German officer, Geertrui tries to relax, but she's taken by surprise when she remembers she's lying on top of Jacob. At this point, she's naïve and innocent, but it's not long before she too can acknowledge her passionate feelings for the English patient.
Quote #6
I propose no explanation, make no excuse. Nor do I offer the slightest regret. Quite the opposite. I cling to this moment, this decision. And endure its consequences. Of nothing in my life am I as certain as I am of my love for Jacob. (15.11)
Oh no she didn't… We tried to imagine what Jacob's wife, Sarah would say if she read this, but really, the book asks us to think about the love that Geertrui and Jacob share. They don't try to make excuses or justify their love for one another, which makes it seem as though it's such a strong force, they can't deny it.
Quote #7
Long enough for me to decide in calmness of mind that love cannot be love without risk. It seemed obvious to me, though I do not know how or when I had learned it, that love that is real is always dangerous. And more dangerous to the one who gives it than to the one who receives it. (15.34)
They say all is fair in love and war, but we're not so sure—for a while it seems like everything is perfect between these lovebirds, but war gets in the way. This leads us to think about whether you can ever really have love without risk. It certainly doesn't seem possible in wartime.
Quote #8
New love is like a star, it radiates energy. Young love shared is a firmament. Doubt is not available. And shut away on the farm we were living in a kind of cocoon, isolated from other people. In ordinary times we would have mixed with friends and family, telling our closest confidants of our love, of our hopes and plans, and they would have encouraged or dissuaded us, reminding us of everyday realities and helping keep our feet on the ground. (17.17)
This is such a pretty idea of love, giving off light and energy wherever it goes. And to think this is the description Geertrui gives her love fifty some years after it took place.
Quote #9
"Right. Yes. Love is not finite. It is not that we each have a limited supply of it that we can only give to one person at a time. Or that we have one kind of love that can only be given to one person in the whole of our lives. It's a ridiculous thing to think so." (21.58)
Daan's idea of love is different from his mom's and his grandma's. Here he explains what he thinks about love being something that is infinite, that comes and goes and ebbs and flows. Jacob isn't so sure he buys this definition of love though, and wants to create his own idea of it.
Quote #10
"One of the reasons I love Daan so much is that we think things together we never would have thought by ourselves. Or with anyone else. And for us, the sex is part of how it happens." (21.107)
What matters most to Ton about his relationship with Daan is that it brings out the best in each of them. So who cares whether society approves? They're happy and help each other be the best they can be.