Quotes by Doris Mortman

Until you make peace with who you are, youll never be content with what you have.

Why dont we like them? Katalin asked. Because they dont treat us right. After Zoltán said it, he marveled at the realization that in trying to clarify years of abuses and lists of grievances, that in trying to make oppression understandable for a child, he had reduced the horror of Soviet domination to one simple, honest statement of fact: The Russians didnt treat the Hungarians right.

Beethoven introduced us to anger. Haydn taught us capriciousness, Rachmaninoff melancholy. Wagner was demonic. Bach was pious. Schumann was mad, and because his genius was able to record his fight for sanity, we heard what isolation and the edge of lunacy sounded like. Liszt was lusty and vigorous and insisted that we confront his overwhelming sexuality as well as our own. Chopin was a poet, and without him we never would have understood what night was, what perfume was, what romance was.

I felt the joy of knowing that in some small way I had fought back against someone who wanted to rule me against my will. I said no.

If Recsk had taught him anything, it was that for those intent on killing, life was the ultimate revenge.

Until you make peace with who you are youll never be content with what you have.