Judith Kerr Quotes

We’ll come back,” said Papa. “I know,” said Anna... “But it won’t be the same - we won’t belong. Do you think we’ll ever really belong anywhere?” “I suppose not,” said Papa. “Not the way people belong who have lived in one place all their lives. But we’ll belong a little in lots of places, and I think that may be just as good.

Herhalde ünlü olabilmek için kötü bir çocukluk geçirmek gerekiyor diye düşündü Anna.

Neden bir arada oynayamıyorlardı sanki? Bunun için de aynı partiyi mi tutmak gerekiyordu.

You see a lady sitting there and she's not doing anything and you tend to forget that of course she wasn't always a little old lady. There's all this colored stuff inside her, it's all inside, bubbling.

Monsieur Fernand...took them to a large busy restaurant where they sat at a table outside on the pavement and ordered a meal. 'Snails for the children!' cried Fernand. 'They've never tried them.' Max stared at his portion in horror and could not bring himself to touch them. But Anna, encouraged by Francine, tried one and found that it tasted like a very delicious mushroom.

I don’t really mind where we are,’ she said – ‘as long as we’re all together.

She tried to remember that she was a Jew and must not be frightened, otherwise the Nazis would say that all Jews were cowards - but it was no use.

All the famous people had had an awful time. One of them had had a drunken father. Another had a stammer. Another had to wash hundreds of dirty bottles. They had all had what was called a difficult childhood. Clearly you had to have one if you wanted to become famous.

Do you think we’ll ever really belong anywhere?” “I suppose not,” said Papa. “Not the way people belong who have lived in one place all their lives. But we’ll belong a little in lots of places, and I think that may be just as good.

They listened to them screaming down from the sky. One…two…three…four very close – five and six, thank goodness, receding. Then there was another plane and another – it can’t go on like this, thought Anna, but it did.

There was a crash, closer than the rest, which shook the building and as Anna felt the floor move a little beneath her the word “bombardment” came into her mind. I’m in a bombardment, she thought. I’m lying on the floor of the Hotel Continental in my pink pyjamas in the middle of a bombardment.

It turned out that no one in the house had spent a night in London since the beginning of the air raids, and they asked her endless questions as though she were some strange creature from another world. The maharajah, if he was one, kept saying, terrible, terrible, and how did people survive, which was silly, thought Anna, for what else could you do if you had no choice

But soon they began to arrive in large numbers both by day and by night. It was unnerving, as you went about your business, to listen to the sound of the engines which might cut out at any moment. You prayed for the buzz-bombs to keep going, but felt guilty while you did so because you knew they would only fall on someone else. And the fact that the war might soon be over made everyone wish, quite desperately, to stay alive.

There are Jews scattered all over the world,’ he said, ‘and the Nazis are telling terrible lies about them. So it’s very important for people like us to prove them wrong.’ ‘How can we?’ asked Max. ‘By being better than other people,’ said Papa.

1942.

Omama finished her sentence, exactly as though Max had crystallised the thought for her. Anna and Max burst into uncontrollable laughter, but Mama said, ‘Nonsense, Mother!’ quite sharply and told Max to go and get himself cleaned up. ‘As a matter of fact the children are doing extremely well,’ she told Omama and added when Max was safely out of the room, ‘Max is working for the first time in his life.’ ‘And I’m going to take the certificat d’études!’ said Anna. This was her big news. Madame Socrate had decided, since her work had improved so much, that there was now no reason why she shouldn’t take the examination in the summer with the rest of the class. ‘The certificat d’études?’ said Omama. ‘Isn’t that some kind of elementary school examination?’ ‘It’s for French twelve-year-old children,’ said Mama, ‘and Anna’s teacher thinks it remarkable that she should have

Daily Parisian

Everything I do is autobiographical. I’m into old ladies because I’ve been one for some considerable time now.