Kristin Hannah Quotes

“I am a mother and mothers don’t have the luxury of falling apart in front of their children, even when they are afraid, even when their children are adults.”

“If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.”

“Maybe time didn't heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor, or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob.”

“Sometimes being a good friend means saying nothing.”

“A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones.”

“I know about forgiving people and loving them anyway, even after they hurt you.”

“It is not biology that determines fatherhood. It is love.”

“know now what matters, and it is not what I have lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts.”

“Of course you can fall in love. You just have to let yourself. They don't call it falling for nothing.
-Kate”

“To lose love is a terrible thing. But to turn away from it is unbearable. Will you spend the rest of your life replaying it in your head? Wondering if you walked away too soon or too easily? Or if you'll ever love anyone that deeply again?”

“That was the one thing she knew now. Some chances came and went, and if you missed them, you could spend the rest of your life standing alone, waiting for an opportunity that had already passed you by.”

“One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don't do in life.”

“The at-home mother's life: it was a race with no finish line.”

“I didn't know how… deep love ran, how it was in your blood, not your heart, and how that same blood pumped through your veins your whole life.”

“But love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us.”

“To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down, but you can't let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.”

“Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain.”

“And before you barrel through some idiotic Cosmo girl list of how-well-do-you-know-your-man questions, let me say that I don't know squat about him except that he kisses like a god and screws like a devil.”

“Love. It was the beginning and end of everything, the foundation and the ceiling and the air in between.”

“Some stories don’t have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories.”

“Perhaps that’s why I find myself looking backward. The past has a clarity I can no longer see in the present.”

“I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.”

“Today’s young people want to know everything about everyone. They think talking about a problem will solve it. I come from a quieter generation. We understand the value of forgetting, the lure of reinvention.”

“But when he looked at her—and she looked at him—they both knew that there was something worse than kissing the wrong person. It was wanting to.”

“This is the problem with forever friends. They know too much.”

“Thoughts - even fears - were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.”

“You’re not alone, and you’re not the one in charge,” Mother said gently. “Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God—and each other and ourselves—in times as dark as these.”

“It is easy to disappear when no one is looking at you.”

“Tante Isabelle says it’s better to be bold than meek. She says if you jump off a cliff at least you’ll fly before you fall.”

“Finding your passion isn't just about careers and money. It's about finding your authentic self. The one you've buried beneath other people's needs.”

“In love we find out who we want to be, in war we find out who we are.”

“You are my sunlight in the dark and the ground beneath my feet.”

“It isn’t about being at the same school or the same town or even the same room. It’s about being together. Love is a choice you make.”

“In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost.”

“I had forgotten how gently time passes in Paris. As lively as the city is, there’s a stillness to it, a peace that lures you in. In Paris, with a glass of wine in your hand, you can just be.”

“I belong to a generation that didn't expect to be protected from every danger. We knew the risks and took them anyway.”

“Do you love him?"
How would I know?"
You'd know.”

“When you get… to the end, you see that love and family are all there is. Nothing else matters.”

“At one point, she'd wanted to hurl the whole breakfast at the wall. And then she'd remember why it was that men had temper tantrums and women didn't: cleanup.”

“I guess no one stays friends for more than thirty years without broken hearts along the way.”

“She wanted to bottle how safe she felt in this moment, so she could drink of it later when loneliness and fear left her parched.”

“What good did it do to light the world on fire if she had to watch the glow alone?”

“She was so tired of being strong.”

“A girl’s love for her father. Immutable. Unbearable but unbreakable.”

“Popularity means people think they know you.”

“It's not intentions that matter. It's actions. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to.”

“To those who are here, those who are gone, and those who are lost.”

“Goddamn, sometimes it hurt to be free.”

“Promises were a lot like impressions. The second one didn't count for much.”

“She has a steel exterior, but it protects a candyfloss heart.”

“Jude remembered this pain. Every woman had felt some version of it: the end of first love. It was when you learned, for good and always, that love could be impermanent.”

“If there’s one thing I never do, it’s stop.”

“Then he left her there, standing alone, surrounded by word ghosts; things she could have said.”

“It's not a date. I bought my own drink and I didn't shave my legs.”

“Mrs. Rondle gave us a pop quiz. So lame.”