- Zoya as a child: [to her mother about the recently dead people who got awarded by the Lenin medal] I don't understand: They died so they are not anymore. But they get awarded. How can you award someone who isn't anymore?
- Zoya's Mother: That's what it's about? You see, girl, they are heroes. They went up so high where nobody ever was. And many years will go by and people will still remember them, just as if they would be alive.