Ishmael Beah

“At night it felt as if we were walking with the moon. It followed us under thick clouds and waited for us…

— Ishmael Beah

“I learned that you are not free until you stop others from making you feel worthless. Because if you do not, you…

— Ishmael Beah

ONE OF THE UNSETTLING THINGS about my journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn’t sure when or where it was…

— Ishmael Beah

“We walked into the arms of the forest...”

— Ishmael Beah

For many observers, a child who has known nothing but war, a child for whom the Kalashnikov is the only way to…

— Ishmael Beah

My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and protector, and my rule is to kill or be killed.

— Ishmael Beah

My mother tongue, Mende, is very expressive, very figurative, and when I write, I always struggle to find the English equivalent of…

— Ishmael Beah

Some people tried to hurt us to protect themselves, their family and communities...This was one of the consequences of civil war. People…

— Ishmael Beah

I grew up in Sierra Leone, in a small village where as a boy my imagination was sparked by the oral tradition…

— Ishmael Beah

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

— Ishmael Beah

“Circumstances will change and things will be fine, just hold on a little more”

— Ishmael Beah

This is one of the consequences of the civil war. People stop trusting each other, and every stranger becomes an enemy.

— Ishmael Beah

A lot of people, when they say 'forgive and forget,' they think you completely wash your brain out and forget everything. That…

— Ishmael Beah

It's exhausting writing nonfiction, particularly when it's personal. It's tiring, always speaking about things that are not necessarily fun retelling.

— Ishmael Beah

I had a very simple, unremarkable and happy life. And I grew up in a very small town. And so my life…

— Ishmael Beah

We must strive to be like the moon

— Ishmael Beah

...children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.

— Ishmael Beah

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

— Ishmael Beah

We must live in the radiance of tomorrow, as our ancestors have suggested in their tales. For what is yet to come…

— Ishmael Beah

“Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even thought…

— Ishmael Beah

The thing that really gets to me is that countries are in the news only when things get out of hand. That's…

— Ishmael Beah

I am always quiet so that I know what to say when I must speak.

— Ishmael Beah

As a kid in Africa, you were so connected to nature itself because you went farming, watched the moon out at night,…

— Ishmael Beah

In early 1993, when I was 12, I was separated from my family as the Sierra Leone civil war, which began two…

— Ishmael Beah

How many more times do we have to come to terms with death before we find safety?" he asked. He waited a…

— Ishmael Beah