Snow Falling on Cedars Notes | Quotes

Quote 1: "The most distressing news story of the preceding ten years had been the wounding of an island resident by a drunken Seattle yachtsman with a shotgun on the Fourth of July, 1951." Chapter 1, page 3

Quote 2: "San Piedro lived and breathed by the salmon, and the cryptic places where they ran at night were the subject of perpetual conversation." Chapter 2, Page 9

Quote 3: "The man had survived Okinawa. Carl Heine, it was unbelievable." Chapter 4, page 30

Quote 4: Since they could not forget about it, neither could he." Chapter 4, page 31

Quote 5: "He loved humankind dearly and with all his heart, but he disliked most human beings" Chapter 4, page 36

Quote 6: "And the majority of Japs, Horace recalled, inflicted death over the left ear, swinging in from the right." Chapter 5, p. 56

Quote 7: "in the spirit of one who knows his place simply leave Susan Marie alone." Chapter 6, pg. 70

Quote 8: "Hatsue settled into missing her husband...a deliberately controlled hysteria that was something like what Ishmael Chambers felt watching her in the courtroom." Chapter 7, pg. 93

Quote 9: "he decided he would love her forever no matter what came to pass." Chapter 8, pg. 100

Quote 10: WeÕre enemies all right. TheyÕve been botherinÕ us over those seven acres for near ten years now. My son was killed over it." Chapter 10, pg. 141

Quote 11: "But which facts? Which facts do we print, Ishmael?" Chapter 13, pg. 188

Quote 12: "she concealed her love for Ishmael Chambers not because she was Japanese in her heart but because she could not in truth profess to the world that what she felt for him was love at all." Chapter 14, pg. 206

Quote 13: "[Miyamoto] tied up to CarlÕs boat and left a line on it. That seems to me pretty clear." Chapter 17, pg. 258

Quote 14: "Here was the Jap with the bloody gun butt Horace had suggested he look for." Chapter 18, pg. 269

Quote 15: No, it would not surprise Sergeant Maples to hear that Kabuo Miyamoto had killed a man with a fishing gaff." Chapter 19, pg. 285

Quote 16: "The world was one world, and the notion that a man might kill another over some small patch of it did not make sense—though Ishmael knew that such things happened." Chapter 22, pg. 321

Quote 17: The Japs did it. They shot my arm off. Japs." Chapter 23, pg. 332

Quote 18: An enormous freighter had plowed right through the fishing grounds, throwing before it a wake large enough to knock even a big man overboard." Chapter 23, pg. 335

Quote 19: "I have to think itÕs a travesty. That they arrested him because heÕs Japanese." Chapter 24, pg. 343

Quote 20: " We know you will follow in your fatherÕs footsteps. We are certain you will honor his legacy." Chapter 24, pg. 352

Quote 21: "But later that day...a clerk at PetersenÕs told Hatsue about the terrible accident that had befallen Carl Heine." Chapter 25, pg. 368

Quote 22: "WeÕre sly and treacherous. CanÕt trust a Jap, can you?" Chapter 27, pg. 391

Quote 23: YouÕre a hard man to trust, Mr. Miyamoto. You sit before us with no expression, keeping a poker face through—" Chapter 28, pg. 412

Quote 24: "He was, they decided, not like them at all, and the detached and aloof manner in which he watched the snowfall made this palpable and self-evident." Chapter 28, pg. 412

Quote 25: "Look into his eyes, consider his face, and ask yourselves what your duty is as citizens of this community." Chapter 29, pg. 415

Quote 26: "Will you contribute to the indifferent forces that ceaselessly conspire toward injustice? Or will you stand up against this endless tide and in the face of it be truly human?" Chapter 29, pg. 419

Quote 27: "If I feel doubt, thatÕs all that matters, right?" Chapter 30, pg. 29

Quote 28: "An enemy on an island is an enemy forever." Chapter 31, pg. 439

Quote 29: "The war, his arm, the course of things—it had all made his heart much smaller." Chapter 31, pg. 442

Quote 30: "Find someone to marry. Have children, Ishmael. Live." Chapter 32, pg. 446

Quote 31: "The heart of any other, because it had a will, would remain forever mysterious." Chapter 32, pg. 460