"When the Emperor Was Divine" Quotes

We were allowed to bring one suitcase. We could pack whatever we wanted. And we were told not to worry, the government would feed us and we would be back home in a few months.

We were not allowed to use the word 'I' when we were at camp. We had to refer to ourselves as 'one' and 'oneself.'

The photograph was old and faded. It was wrinkled and torn in two and taped back together. It was a picture of a woman in a kimono and a man in a dark suit and a little girl in a frilly white dress and patent leather shoes.

She knew that if she bit her tongue and swallowed it, her mother would be okay. So she bit her tongue and swallowed it and held her breath for as long as she could.

That's how we used to live, she said. That's how we used to live. But I don't remember ever living like that. You were only four, she said. You were only four.

We were Americans, she said. And we had rights. They couldn't do this to us. But they could and they did.

She was neither here nor there. She was neither in this world nor the next.

We had been warned not to bring anything of value, because if we did they would be taken from us. So we brought the things we couldn't bear to part with that had no value at all.

But we were not like other people. We were different. We were special. We were the enemy.

She knew she was losing her mind, but she was not afraid. She was not afraid.