Sarah Rees Brennan Quotes

Two hands. One to destroy, the other to save. Which had he lost?

Did I kill anyone?

It doesn't matter whether I'm judged criminal. I have a great feeling of guilt - I have a feeling that I ran after Hitler like a wildfire without reason. If I can sacrifice my life to make something good, I'd gladly do it.

Psychologically, we all have that cross to bear when we do shady things.

My arms are up to the elbows in blood. That is the most terrible thing that lies in my soul.

None of my problems come from the people I've killed.

To save myself, I destroyed another, and in doing so, I destroyed myself.

The idea that somebody who has done something horrible in a war is not willing to talk about it for 32 years is hardly a shocking idea. Quite the contrary.

A man is sorry to be honest for nothing.

I finally figured out what my crime was. I lived. Big mistake.

What is guilt? Guilt is the pledge drive constantly hammering in our heads that keeps us from fully enjoying the show. Guilt is the reason they put the articles in Playboy.

There was a time when I thought I was doing a good thing with good guys for a good cause. Looking back, I think I really wanted to be a warrior.

I would have given my own life if I could have undone the killing of white men by my people.

We have a demon, we have an angel inside, within our souls, and you just play with it, and sometimes the evil part of you wins the battle, in a very important decision, or in a bedtime, with your lover. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I just felt sick. I was actually executing people. I knew it was wrong, and I should have voted against it. But I didn’t.

On Bergessio, in 2013, I made a reckless tackle and I was so sorry. I told him I was sorry a thousand times but I couldn't give him back the piece that I broke.

We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are.

Everyday he got up. Before sleep wore off, he was who he used to be. Then, as his consciousness woke, it was as if poison seeped in. At first he couldn't even get up. He lay there under a heavy weight. But then only movment could save him, and he moved and he moved and he moved, no movement being enough to make up for it. The guilt on him, the hand of God pressing down on him, saying, You were not there when your daughter needed you.

We will not forgive you for making us kill your sons.

A moment comes in war when the last line must be crossed. The line that separates what you hold dear from what total war demands. If he couldn't cross that line, the battle was over, and he was lost. His heart, the war. Her face, the battlefield. With a cry only he could hear, the hunter turned. And ran.

Few things are as bad as a guilty conscience.

MY REGRETS ARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE I COULDN’T SAVE—Marines, soldiers, my buddies. I still feel their loss. I still ache for my failure to protect them.

How awful is that hour when con, science stings.

Despite everything my mom and doctor and dad have said to me about blame, I can't stop thinking what I know. And I know that my aunt Helen would still be alive today if she just bought me one present like everybody else. She would be alive if I were born on a day that didn't snow.

Guilt is a spiritual Rubicon.