Theresa Breslin Quotes

What makes a human being want to kill another who has done him no personal harm? Patriotism.

~ Theresa Breslin

If you are not a Conchie, what are you man?' demanded the Major.After some moments' thought, Francis said, 'I am a human being who does not believe in killing my fellow man for insufficient reason.

~ Theresa Breslin

How had it come about that these particular designs were chosen as our letters? Who decreed what sound would accompany each shape? And how was it decided the manner they would come together to form a word? 'Why is this so?' I demanded to know.

~ Theresa Breslin

Suffering is the common lot of man.

~ Theresa Breslin

The Maestro spoke again. When we are not, at what point do we become? I could not reply. For I had grasped no shape of his thoughts. I understood neither what he said nor his intent behind it.

~ Theresa Breslin

Lying eats into the soul. If it becomes a habit it frays the edge of your spirit. Truth telling, although sometimes harder to do, strengthens your heart. It serves a person ill not to tell the truth.

~ Theresa Breslin

He could quite quickly become detached from the nuances of common human emotion. Particularly if he was engaged in some aspect of a scientific problem or research. His work excluded any consideration for the feelings of those around him. And he rarely excused himself or justified his behavior. It was as if he was compelled to focus all his energy on one subject and was unaware that others did not follow his obsession.

~ Theresa Breslin

When I was young, I read everything I could lay my hands on, but the Scots in my storybooks spent their time fighting glorious battles, rowing across lochs, or escaping over moors of purple heather. Even those Scots were hard to find. For at school, we recited poetry according to the set texts the teachers taught us.

~ Theresa Breslin