Quotes from Kristin Hannah

Some people see a glass as half empty; some see it as half full. I put the glass in a cupboard and forget it's there. You get my point?

She had this terrible, irrational fear that if she let go of him she would never touch him again and the thought of that was paralyzing.

A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE HOUSE...AND THE SENATE.

The only real thing in this icy blue-and-black world is my daughter's hand in mine.

she should have told me that times slides away on a hillside of lose shale and takes everything in its path-dreams, opportunities, hopes. And youth. It takes that fastest of all.

Their kiss was sad, an apology almost, a reminder of what they'd once shared.

It's not weak, you know. To feel things deeply, to want things. To need.

Hope. A shiny thing, a lure for the unwary. She knew how seductive it could be, and how dangerous.

Sometimes love means trusting people to make their own decisions. In other words, shutting up.

The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very edge of this great land, and now, at last, we make our stand, fight for what we know to be right. We fight for our American dream, that it will be possible again.

Hope is a coin I carry; an American penny, given to me by a man I came to love. There were times in my journey when it and the hope it represented were the only things that kept me going.

But it had gotten so boring, all that crying and wanting and needing. This year she'd realized that she'd never be like her mom, and the realization had freed her. She stopped trying to get good grades and make good friends, and do everything well. She had flourished in her rebellion, reveled in it.

I was not good at the whole making-death-a-positive-transition thing. How could I? I wanted her to fight to the last breath. It was a mistake. I should have listened to her fear, comforted her. Instead I'd promised her that everything would be okay, that she would heal.

I should have called Dad more from Africa," Nina said. "I knew how much my phone calls meant to him. I always thought there was time. . . ." "Sometimes the door just slams shut, you know? And you're all by yourself.

They are heroes, our soldiers, the men and women who go into harm's way to protect us, our way of life. It doesn't matter what you think of the war, your have to be grateful to the warriors, of whom we ask so much. To whom we sometimes give too little.

Sometimes you have to turn the world upside down to see it right side up.

She found herself secretly mapping his face, memorizing every ridge and hollow and valley, as if she were an explorer and he her discovery.

A romance novel focuses exclusively on two people falling in love. It can't be about a woman caring for her aging mother or something like that. It can have that element, but it has to be primarily about the male-female relationship.

Life is messy-- especially now-- it will help if you accept the mess and let it be.

She'd lost too much of herself in parenthood to simply go back to who she'd been before.

You are not alone, and you are 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.

She was wiser than she'd been before. Now she knew how fragile life and love were. Maybe she would love him for only this day, or maybe for only the next week, or maybe until she was an old, old woman. Maybe he would be the love of her life... or her love for the duration of this war... or maybe he would only be her first love. All she really knew was that in this terrible, frightening world, she had stumbled into something unexpected. And she would not let it go again.

Sometimes you have to do everything right and follow the rules. You have to wait until all your ducks are in a row before you make a move. And other times... like now... you have to say 'what the hell' and go for it.

It's going to be an interesting ride, seeing who they become in the next four years. Interesting for you, she said. You're in the stands, watching the game. I'm down on the field, taking the hits. I'm terrified something will go wrong. What can go wrong? They're smart, curious, loving kids. They've got everything going for them.