The Road to Tender Hearts Quotes

“My dad always said a person needs three things to be happy: something to do; someone to love; and something to look forward to.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“The cat was amused at these two idiot humans, talking about how unfair death is, when it’s one of the few things everyone gets. Death is a magnificent invention, the cat knew, because it’s the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“They’re not, Dad. Kids aren’t resilient. That’s something adults like to say to make themselves feel better. To pretend that kids don’t feel as deeply as adults do. But kids are everything that happens to them. They’re sponges. Everything bad, everything good. Every hurtful thing you say. Every loving one.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Loving children is when they hold your hand with their little sweaty, meaty paw and you feel a direct wire to your heart. Loving children is even though they drive you up the wall, and life was so much easier before they were around, you hope they always, always come back home, and you miss them as soon as they’re gone. You miss them as soon as the school bus takes them away in the morning, and you worry about them, you constantly worry about them, hoping and praying that, somehow, they will be one of the lucky ones. One of the lucky ones who is happy, and safe, and stays off drugs and lives to a hundred and two and never knows any heartbreak or pain.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“You are the most joyful corner of my heart”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“You need a story about your own life, or the bad stuff in your head writes the story for you.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“The cat was amused at these two idiot humans, talking about how unfair death is, when it’s one of the few things everyone gets. Death is a magnificent invention, the cat knew, because it’s the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“I recognize that you have had an incredibly difficult time. I recognize that you had to dredge up more strength than you knew you had, and I am impressed that you are still standing. I don’t think I would be if that happened to me, but look at you, standing! On two feet!”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Loving your kids is protecting them from stupid shit that they think they want to do, like run away to Mexico or jump off the top of the stairs or go on a boat without a lifejacket or when they’re in high school and they want to drink hard liquor. Loving kids is teaching them new things, and being delighted when they learn it. Loving children is when they hold your hand with their little sweaty, meaty paw and you feel a direct wire to your heart. Loving children is even though they drive you up the wall, and life was so much easier before they were around, you hope they always, always come back home, and you miss them as soon as they’re gone. You miss them as soon as the school bus takes them away in the morning, and you worry about them, you constantly worry about them, hoping and praying that, somehow, they will be one of the lucky ones. One of the lucky ones who is happy, and safe, and stays off drugs and lives to a hundred and two and never knows any heartbreak or pain.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“how on earth anyone can stomach raising children in a world where doom and disaster lurk around every corner.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Kids aren’t resilient. That’s something adults like to say to make themselves feel better. To pretend that kids don’t feel as deeply as adults do. But kids are everything that happens to them. They’re sponges. Everything bad, everything good. Every hurtful thing you say. Every loving one.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Loving children is even though they drive you up the wall, and life was so much easier before they were around, you hope they always, always come back home, and you miss them as soon as they’re gone. You miss them as soon as the school bus takes them away in the morning, and you worry about them, you constantly worry about them, hoping and praying that, somehow, they will be one of the lucky ones. One of the lucky ones who is happy, and safe, and stays off drugs and lives to a hundred and two and never knows any heartbreak or pain.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“The cat was amused at these two idiot humans”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Sophie’s eyes narrowed. “I might be sad, but I am a good daughter to both you and Mom. And you’ve made it impossible for me to have a normal life. I feel like I’m buried under a collapsed building, and I’ll never climb out from under the rubble.” Sophie’s eyes teared up. Don’t fucking cry right now, she told herself.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Some people will always ignore the sign, no matter how clear and direct it is.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Sometimes limiting contact is healthy. Family obligation is not as important as mental health.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“but PJ was resistant to change, and Ivy catered to him.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“And soon Dallas was performing a lap dance on one woman while other women whipped his abs and his butt—he’d taken off his pants”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“For so many years, when he told people about what had happened to Kate, he hated what they always said: “I can’t imagine.” Try to imagine, he always wanted to say, and sometimes he did. Try to imagine how our family was destroyed overnight.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“Death is a magnificent invention, the cat knew, because it’s the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“The cat was amused at these two idiot humansi talking about how unfair death is, when it's one of the few things everyone gets. Death is a magnificent invention, the cat knew, because it's the impermanence of life that makes it beautiful.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“They all stared at the rushing water for a good long while. How powerful it was, how vast. How small and insignificant they were against the majesty of nature.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“everyone needs “something to do, someone to love, something to look forward to,”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“The cat was amused at these two idiot humans, talking about how unfair death is, when it’s one of the few things everyone gets.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“I can’t imagine.” It didn’t mean that PJ wasn’t capable of imagining it—it really meant I recognize that you have had an incredibly difficult time. I recognize that you had to dredge up more strength than you knew you had, and I am impressed that you are still standing. I don’t think I would be if that happened to me, but look at you, standing! On two feet!”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“They don't want their aging brains tricking them into thinking they're back in the trenches again and the only way to do that is to tell the story. To retell and retell the story. You tell the story in order to control the story.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“a person needs three things to be happy: something to do; someone to love; and something to look forward to.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“You need a story about your own life”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts

“As for Michelle, well, she chose Gene. He was the safer choice, I understood. He'd gotten a medical deferment, so he didn't have to go to Vietnam. Bone spurs, my ass. Have you ever heard of bone spurs?" The kids had not.”
― Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts