Quotes from Kristin Hannah

It would fill her heart to see you all here, to know you'd given up time, with all you have to do, to remember her. To say goodbye. She said to me once that she felt like she'd been nothing, a reflection of other people. She never quite understood her own worth. I hope she's looking down now and knows . . . finally . . . how loved she was.

Hey, Meg," she said without preamble. I need you to write a letter of recommendation for me. I'm applying for grad school." Meghann screamed into the phone. "Oh, my God ! I'm so proud of you. I'm hanging up now; I have to draft a letter that makes my best friend sound like da Vinci in a bra and panties.

Joy and sadness were part of the package; the trick, perhaps, was to let yourself feel all of it, but to hold on to the joy just a little more tightly because you never knew when a strong heart could just give out.

Wild. That's how I describe it all. My love. My life. Alaska. Truthfully, it's all the same to me. Alaska doesn't attract many; most are too tame to handle life up here. But when she gets her hooks in you, she digs deep and holds on, and you become hers. Wild. A lover of cruel beauty and splendid isolation. And God help you, you can't live anywhere else.

know how much it hurts right now, Elsa. You can't unlove someone even if you want to, even if he breaks your heart. I understand not wanting to wake up. Lord, with this life of ours, who could blame you. But your daughter needs you, especially now. She is as foolish as her father. Ant worries me

Mama had called Leni the great love of her life and Leni thought maybe that was always true for parents and their children.

We've gone through bad times before and survived, even thrived. History has shown us the strength and durability of the human spirit. In the end, it is our idealism and our courage and our commitment to one another—what we have in common—that will save us.

It was true that sometimes the support of only one person could make a difference.

Make her tell you the story of the peasant girl and the prince." As he said it, he closed his eyes again, and his breathing turned wheezy. "All of it this time." "I know what you're thinking, Dad. Her stories used to bring us together. For a while, I even thought . . . but I was wrong. She won't—" "Just try, okay? You've never heard it all.

Marah. To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down—girls can be really mean to each other—but you can't let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.

she'd prayed for more children. It had been difficult between them—not a lot, but a little—when Rachel had gotten pregnant with Ari.

Memories came crashing through the walls she'd built to contain them.

It had been the first kiss for both of them, and to this day, when Dean kissed a woman, he longed for the smell of the sea.

As I approach the end of my years, I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," Mrs. Quisdorf said, nodding. "That's the general idea. Who's to say if it actually works, though.

More and more, though, those memories felt manufactured, false. She couldn't remember the last time her mother laughed about anything. All Mom did was work. Work, work, work. As if that would save them.

In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. 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.

When Mom drew back, her eyes were bright and she was smiling. "You are of me, Loreda, in a way that can never be broken. Not by words or anger or actions or time. I love you. I will always love you.

For the first time in her career, the tragedy of it all was nearly unbearable. It wasn't worse here than where she'd been before. That wasn't it. The situation hadn't changed. She had. She carried grief with her everywhere, and the burden of it made compartmentalization impossible.

She could hardly imagine a thing as terrible as losing your mother. The very thought of it made Leni sick to her stomach. A girl was like a kite; without her mother's strong, steady hold on the string, she might just float away, be lost somewhere among the clouds. Leni

She had tried to be loved by him; more important, she had tried to keep loving him, but in the end, one was as impossible as the other.

The past has a clarity I can no longer see in the present. I want to imagine there will be peace when I am gone, that I will see all of the people I have loved and lost. At least that I will be forgiven.

She felt weightless, a perfect combination of sun and water, cold and hot, steady in his arms. For a magnificent moment, the world fell away and she was somewhere else, before now, or long from now, and she wasn't hungry or tired or scared or angry. She simply was. She closed her eyes and felt at peace for the first time in years. Safe.

Don't think about who they are. Think about who you are and what sacrifices