Most heartbreaking lines from a book ever...

[iamdivergent]

Mine has to be this one...

Then she was pressing her little proud broken self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died.

I cried so hard the three times I've read the book (I haven't put the name of the book in case of spoilers) - what lines got to you?

I havent read any of the books mentioned but all very poignant and sad quotations

Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman. A child less Jewish doctor, holds hands with a little boy as they are murdered by the fascists.

Sofiya Levinton felt the boy's body subside in her arms. Once again she dad fallen behind him. In mine shafts where the air becomes poisoned, it is always the little creatures, the birds and mice, that die first. This boy, wish his slight, bird-like body, had left before her.
I've become a mother,' she thought.
That was her last thought^.

Chapter 48.

^Only a few seconds of backup battery power remained. Then Jason would be gone.
"My only regret . . ." Jason continued. "My only regret . . . is that we will not . . . be able to discuss . . . the human equation any longer." Again, the machine paused, and then spoke his last words so softly that Fife had to strain to hear them.
"Go tell the Spartans . . ."^

The machine in question is a sentient tank, programmed to greater loyalty than any hound, more honour than any knight, more nobility than any human, that sacrificed glorious immortality in service of people who fear and despise it.

I read it when I need to remember I can cry.

'Jacob took André's hand and found that there was already something in it – a tin soldier. André kissed Jacob's shorn head, the stubble tender on his lips. There was another room, another door, with bolts and rubber seals, over whose threshold the two boys, among many others, went through icy air, and disappeared.'

I haven't read the book but this made me cry.

From Little Women:
As Beth had hoped, the `tide went out easily', and in the dark hour before dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh.

'There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood'

From the Kite Runner really gets to me.

'The matches glowed with a light that was brighter than the noon-day, and her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God'

From the Little Match Girl, I cannot read that story as it breaks my heart.

Mog was tired. She was dead tired…Mog thought, ‘I want to sleep for ever.’ And so she did.

I can't even bring myself to read the book. The blurb on Amazon makes me want to weep!

Oh God, yes, the little Match Girl. Horrific.

Also from Polar Express (not as sad as some of the others, but makes me cry every time):

'At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.'

Wah!

I've read that book, Grandma and it traumatised me and made me feel like life is sometimes so hopeless.

Ok, didn't need to be reminded of Mog, now crying in toilets at work.

I can't quote the exact line but there is a bit in the book Charlotte Gray, where a little boy is being sent to the gas chamber, although he doesn't know it, and he is worried about his mother being angry that he let the people shave his head, because she wouldn't like what it looks like. I howled reading it. In fact, I'm crying again just thinking about it. It sounds quite similar to some of those quoted here.

The Little Prince has thousands, I can't get through it without crying.
' "My little friend, you have been scared..." He has been scared, for sure! But he laughs sweetly: "I will be much more scared tonight..." '

' "When you look at the sky at night, because I will live in one of the stars, because I will laugh in one of them, then it will be for you as if all the stars are laughing. You, you will have stars which know to laugh!" '

' "Tonight... you know... don't come."
"I will not leave you."
"I will have an air of sadness. I will have a little air of death. It's like this. Don't come to see it, it's not worth it..."
"I will not leave you."
"I'm telling you. It is also because of the snake. He must not bite you. Snakes are wicked. They can bite for pleasure..."
"I will not leave you."
But something reassured him. "It's true that they don't have enough venom to cause a second death..." '

Sorry, didn't realise that Charlotte Gray had already been referenced. No wonder I'm wailing at this thread. It chokes me.

Crunchy yes, L.S.

Blackadder there's something in my eye...I'm on my third (and last) and dh frequently says I'm a big softy with him.

Tie I remember crying at that part in HP too

Woman so sad!

Kraggle I told dd2 that there wasn't a farewell not book! Couldn't bear to read it

That's exactly the bit I was thinking of, I had just remembered it incorrectly.

I'm crying at these too! Argh...why do we do it to ourselves...

OMG yes I had trouble getting through Goodbye Mog. This is mine though, from Anne of Green Gables:

She could see Matthew’s face smiling at her as he had smiled when they parted at the gate that last evening - she could hear his voice saying, ‘My girl - my girl that I’m proud of.’ Then the tears came and Anne wept her heart out.

Gets me every time, and I don’t often cry at books.

A more recent one for me was the line "You made me shiny" from Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. I found the whole book quite emotional for many reasons which is quite unlike me.

Mog died??? The witch in the children's books? Noooooooo

I can't remember any of the exact lines but the ending of The Book Thief made me hysterical with sadness. I sobbed for ages after finishing it, absolutely devastating.

From Watership Down

"My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."

treaclesoda There's probably an earlier bit which is the bit you were thinking of, as they already have their heads shaved in the bit I quoted.

Found it:

'Then it was the children's turn. André shuffled up along the queue, frightened of what his mother would say if she saw him with a shaved head. He remembered the feeling of her hand as she stroked his skull, allowing the soft, dark hair to trickle out over the webbing of her fingers. Would she recognise him shorn?'

Need to get a grip of myself before I collect my DD from preschool or they're going to think there's been a death in the family!

Dame - Mog the Forgetful Cat

When I saw the thread title I thought of that book/quote OP.

I was listening to the audiobook in the gym, and I knew that but was coming so I was steeling myself to absolutely.not.cry in the gym. Of course I did though...