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Ishmael Beah Quotes

In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.

Ishmael Beah

In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.

Tags: gone, grandmother, inspiration, ishmael, long, sky, way

My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.

Ishmael Beah

My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.

About Author
Ishmael Beah (born 23 November 1980) is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, A Long Way Gone. His novel Radiance of Tomorrow was published in January 2014. His most recent novel Little Family was published in April 2020.

I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge...

Ishmael Beah

I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge...

Tags: inspirational, revenge, touching

You can only threaten someone with hell if they have never had hell

Ishmael Beah

You can only threaten someone with hell if they have never had hell

I took out my grenade and put my fingers inside the pin. 'Do you boys want this to be your last meal, or do you want to answer his question?

Ishmael Beah

I took out my grenade and put my fingers inside the pin. 'Do you boys want this to be your last meal, or do you want to answer his question?

Tags: no fear, nonfiction, threat

I AM PUSHING a rusty wheelbarrow in a town where the air smells of blood and burnt flesh. The breeze brings the faint cries of those whose last breaths are leaving their mangled bodies. I walk past th...

Ishmael Beah

I AM PUSHING a rusty wheelbarrow in a town where the air smells of blood and burnt flesh. The breeze brings the faint cries of those whose last breaths are leaving their mangled bodies. I walk past th...

Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even thought I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I wil...

Ishmael Beah

Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even thought I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I wil...

Tags: lose of hope

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them.

Ishmael Beah

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them.

Tags: pretty

We danced and laughed into the morning. But gradually we stopped. It was as if we all knew that we could be happy for only a brief moment.

Ishmael Beah

We danced and laughed into the morning. But gradually we stopped. It was as if we all knew that we could be happy for only a brief moment.

But what was more violent than making people disbelieve in the worth of their own lives? What was more violent than making them believe they deserved less and less every day?

Ishmael Beah

But what was more violent than making people disbelieve in the worth of their own lives? What was more violent than making them believe they deserved less and less every day?

It isn't about knowing the most stories, child. It is about carrying the ones that are most important and passing them along.

Ishmael Beah

It isn't about knowing the most stories, child. It is about carrying the ones that are most important and passing them along.

Tags: history, stories

My teeth became sour as I listened to his story. It was then that I understood why he was quiet all the time.

Ishmael Beah

My teeth became sour as I listened to his story. It was then that I understood why he was quiet all the time.

I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies.

Ishmael Beah

I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies.

I only liked talking to her because I felt that she didn’t judge me for what I had been a part of; she looked at me with the same inviting eyes and welcoming smile that said I was a child.

Ishmael Beah

I only liked talking to her because I felt that she didn’t judge me for what I had been a part of; she looked at me with the same inviting eyes and welcoming smile that said I was a child.

If you're alive, then there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.

Ishmael Beah

If you're alive, then there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.

We all knew that we could grieve only for a short while in order to continue staying alive.

Ishmael Beah

We all knew that we could grieve only for a short while in order to continue staying alive.

I was still hesitant to let myself let go, because I still believed in the fragility of happiness.

Ishmael Beah

I was still hesitant to let myself let go, because I still believed in the fragility of happiness.

As a kid in Africa, you were so connected to nature itself because you went farming, watched the moon out at night, observed how the sky was different, and how the birds chanted different songs in the...

Ishmael Beah

As a kid in Africa, you were so connected to nature itself because you went farming, watched the moon out at night, observed how the sky was different, and how the birds chanted different songs in the...

Tags: nature, sky, moon

I was one of those children forced into fighting at the age of 13, in my country Sierra Leone, a war that claimed the lives of my mother, father and two brothers. I know too well the emotional, psycho...

Ishmael Beah

I was one of those children forced into fighting at the age of 13, in my country Sierra Leone, a war that claimed the lives of my mother, father and two brothers. I know too well the emotional, psycho...

Tags: children, age, father

This isn’t your fault, you know. It really isn’t. You’ll get though this. (page 151)

Ishmael Beah

This isn’t your fault, you know. It really isn’t. You’ll get though this. (page 151)