Quotes from Kristin Hannah

It was ridiculous and embarrassing and inevitable, for it didn't matter that motherhood had kicked the hell out of her and ruined her confidence; it had also swamped her so with love that she was only half a person without her daughter.

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.

It wasn't the fear that mattered in life. It was the choices made when you were afraid. You were brave because of fear, not in spite of it.

She was sure he saw some spatter of blood or dirt somewhere on her, at her temple or on the back of her hand. There was an almost imperceptible pause; she knew he was waiting for her to look at him, to communicate what had happened, but she just sat there. If she opened her mouth she might start screaming. Or if she looked at him she might cry, might demand to know how it was that children could be shot in the dark for nothing.

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.

I am like some wounded animal in a darkened lair, nursing the thorn in my paw, unable to find anyone to take it out.

Far below, a deep blue lake absorbed the reflection of the clouds. Manicured gardens allowed the villa's occupants—and, more important

You'll tell me everything?" "Almost everything," I say with a smile. "A Frenchwoman must have her secrets." And I will Ã¢â'¬Â¦ I'll keep one secret. I

They were always doing that to each other, misinterpreting, imagining the worst. No wonder every conversation bruised one or the other.

she looked as if she'd been sculpted from the cool colors of this place, an angel alighted on a shore that waited for her.

Love. In the best of times, it is a dream. In the worst of times, a salvation

But she wasn't an I. She was a we.

Loreda knew she couldn't blame her mother for Daddy abandoning them, or not entirely. That was the sad, sorry truth she'd come to after a long and sleepless night. Daddy had left them all.

Love. Family. Laughter. That's what I remember when it's all said and done.

Relying on people for comfort had never felt natural to her. The last thing she wanted was to give someone the power to hurt her.

She had to believe there was grit in her, even if it had never been tested or revealed.

Take it from me, Father. Life is over quickly, and you only regret what you didn't do.

A Russian dacha, or summerhouse, in Western Washington State. Even the orchard's name was absurd. Belye Nochi.

loss had rearranged her from the inside out. Now she knew how much family mattered and how important it was to hang on to the people you loved.

How will I stop loving him, Mama? Will I Ã¢â'¬Â¦ forget?" Mama sighed. "Ah. That. Love doesn't fade or die, baby girl. People tell you it does, but it doesn't. If you love him now, you'll love him in ten years and in forty. Differently, maybe, a faded version, but he's part of you now. And you are part of him.

they'd learn what needed to be held close in life, and what wasn't worth worrying over.

was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.

Sometimes it feels like a strength and sometimes like a weakness, but I don't know how to stop loving him.

she realized that the landscape of a woman's soul could change as quickly as a world at war.