Home Front Quotes

“I know about forgiving people and loving them anyway, even after they hurt you.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“She had been ready to love this man from the moment she first saw him. In all these years, that had never changed. They'd hurt each other, let each other down, and yet, here they were after everything, together. She needed him now, needed him to remind her that she was live, that she wasn't alone, that she hadn't lost everything.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“From the first time we met, we knew everything that mattered about each other, didn't we? We just knew. I guess that's what best friends are: parts of each other.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“We are what we do and say, not what we intend to.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“I might screw up, I might embarrass you, I might yell at you, but I will never, ever stop loving you. You're my first born. The first time I held you... I fell in love so hard it cracked my bones.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“He is a man, and he is afraid. This is not a good combination.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Marriages go through hard times. Sometimes you have to get in there and fight for your love. That's the only way for it to get better.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Here's what you need to know: some cliches are true, and war is definitely hell. It's being afraid all the time, and when you're not afraid it's because you're pumped full of adrenaline you could literally burst. It's watching people who you love- really profoundly love- get blown to pieces right next to you. It's seeing a leg lying in the ditch and picking it up to put it in a bag because no man- or part of a man, your friend- can be left behind. It's the dark night of the soul. There's no front line over there. The war is all around them, every day, everywhere they go. Some handle it better than others. We don't know why, but we do know this: the human mind can't safely or healthily process that kind of carnage and uncertainty and horror. It just can't. No one comes back from war the same.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Sometimes holding on was all you could do.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“For years he'd strived to make a difference in the world, and he'd worked like a dog to make that happen, and yet here he was, a man sitting on a dock with his children, and never had he felt more certain that his words mattered.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Fifteen minutes later, Betsy came thundering down the stairs. "I'm going to the mall with Sierra to see a movie."
Michael leaned forward, switched off the television. "Can you please rephrase that in the form of a question?"
"Sure. Can I have some money?”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“...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, Home Front

“Life is messy-- especially now-- it will help if you accept the mess and let it be.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“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.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“I once read a Stephen King book that used the term SSDD. Same shit, different day.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Hope was an elevator right now, broken from its cables.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“He'd learned in the past few months that telling a girl what to wear--even one the size of a golf club--was a bad idea. Histrionics often followed.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“But now she saw what she had never dared to see before: this love of hers was one-sided. She was the one who took care; he was the one who took.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“He saw his whole life in her eyes, all his dreams and hopes and fears.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“He tried to get help from the VA but he couldn’t, as so many other returning soldiers have discovered. He suffered terribly—nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks. He drank too much to mask these symptoms, and unfortunately alcohol only exacerbated the condition. It’s called post-traumatic stress and it is a recognized psychiatric disorder. It was around long before we had such a serious-sounding clinical name for it. In the Civil War, it was called a ‘soldier’s heart,’ which I think is the most accurate of the descriptions; in World War One, it was ‘shell shock,’ and during World War Two, ‘battle fatigue.’ In other words, war changes every soldier, but it has always profoundly damaged some of them.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Don’t get me started on the government and its failings with regard to our soldiers. It’s criminal. The military tends to equate PTSD with weakness or cowardice. But they’re going to have to get on board, especially because troops are doing multiple tours. We need to make the VA and the government start addressing the needs of its soldiers at home. We need to shine a light on this and erase the stigma. This case is important, Michael. Maybe you can help another broken soldier and save some lives.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“By the time this damn war's over, we'll have hundreds of thousands of severely traumatized soldiers trying to put the pieces of their lives back together.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Lulu twirled in front of Jolene, banging into the seat. her eyes sparkled in that I'm-either-going-to-scream-or-fall-asleep-any-second kind of way.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“There were journeys in life no one could take for you.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“She had gone to him then, taken him in her arms and held him until he could breathe again. To her, it had been second nature, caring for him when he was hurting. But now she saw what she had never dared to see before: this love of hers was one-sided. She was the one who took care; he was the one who took.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Five words to change a world, to dissolve the ground beneath a woman’s feet. It was a tidal wave, that sentence, whooshing in without warning, undermining foundations, leaving homes crumbled in the aftermath.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“Here’s what you need to know: some clichés are true, and war is definitely hell. It’s being afraid all the time, and when you’re not afraid it’s because you’re so pumped full of adrenaline you could literally burst. It’s watching people who you love—really profoundly love—get blown to pieces right next to you. It’s seeing a leg lying in the ditch and picking it up to put it in a bag because no man—or part of a man, your friend—can be left behind. It’s the dark night of the soul, Michael. There’s no front line over there. The war is all around them, every day, everywhere they go.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. —MARCEL PROUST”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“It’s not intentions that matter. It’s actions. My drill instructor used to say that all the time. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to. I”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front

“The truth is, I knew loss. I didn't know grief. Now, I do.”
― Kristin Hannah, Home Front