Some women nodded, others shook their heads. I would have killed myself before I let one of them move into my house. Would you Helen? Would you really?

— Kristin Hannah

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.

— Kristin Hannah

That 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.

— Kristin Hannah

The falling apart from a man's life should make more noise. It should startle passersby with its Storm and Drag. It ought to sound like the Parthenon crashing down. Not this ordinary, everyday kind of quiet... He closed his eyes... And still it was quiet, this falling apart from his life, as silent as the last beat of an old man's heart. A quiet, echoing thud, and then...nothing.

— Kristin Hannah

The measure of a man comes down to moments, spread out like dots of pain on the canvas on life. Everything you were, everything you'll someday be, resides in the small, seemingly ordinary choices of everyday life..... Each decision seems as insignificant as a left turn on an unfamiliar road when you have no destination in mind. But the decisions accumulate until you realize one day that they've made you the man that you are.

— Kristin Hannah

The measure of a society is its compassion.

— Kristin Hannah

The next morning, Angie woke with the sun... Her eyes felt gritty and swollen. Once again she'd watered her mattress with memories.

— Kristin Hannah

The trip from Portland to New York City was like climbing Mount Everest without oxygen. It went on and on, and by the time you reached your destination, there was no sensation left in your extremities.

— Kristin Hannah

... This fear was unbearable. It unwrapped who she was, as neatly as he'd unwound her bandage, leaving too much pain and ugliness exposed. Nerve endings; he'd said they were the problem [causing phantom pain in the amputated limb]." Things that cut off, that ended abruptly or died--like parents and marriages--kept hurting forever.

— Kristin Hannah

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

— Kristin Hannah