Kristin Hannah: Caro: "Bite me." Ruby: "I gave that up in kindergarten...

Finding your passion isn't just about careers and money. It's about finding your authentic self. The one you've buried beneath other people's needs.

Kristin Hannah

passion careers self

Maybe time didn't heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor, or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob.

Kristin Hannah

armor perspective way

And maybe that was how it was supposed to be...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.

Kristin Hannah

sadness littles joy

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

pain choices men

As mothers and daughters, we are connected with one another. My mother is the bones of my spine, keeping me straight and true. She is my blood, making sure it runs rich and strong. She is the beating of my heart. I cannot now imagine a life without her.

Kristin Hannah

mothers-day family mom

That was what a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart.

Kristin Hannah

friends heart best-friend

Memories are who we are. In the end, that's all the luggage you take with you. Love and Memories are what last.

Kristin Hannah

who-we-are lasts memories

There are always times in life that you don't fit in. But you have to go forward and make a place for yourself. That's what growing up is all about. Being strong and believing in yourself-even when you're most afraid.

Kristin Hannah

growing-up strong believe

A daughter without her mother is a woman broken. It is a loss that turns to arthritis and settles deep into her bones.

Kristin Hannah

daughter mom mother

Honestly, I believe that the mother-daughter relationship is magical, complex, potentially dangerous, profoundly powerful, and deeply transformative. To put it simply, all of us have this relationship, and in a very real way, "none of us comes out alive." We are all formed first as daughters and then tested as mothers. There's nothing like motherhood to make us reassess how we were as daughters.

Kristin Hannah

daughter powerful mother

It's not intentions that matter. It's actions. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to.

Kristin Hannah

intention matter action

What I know now about life is this: your mother is a part of everything you do and everything you are.

Kristin Hannah

life-is mother knows

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

loving-you screw-ups might

In the sea of grief, there were islands of grace, moments in time when one could remember what was left rather than all that had been lost.

Kristin Hannah

grief sea islands

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

Kristin Hannah

cheer-up real hurt

Then he left her there, standing alone, surrounded by word ghosts; things she could have said.

Kristin Hannah

standing-alone ghost said

Time goes too quickly. This is the advice that my mother should have given me from her hospital bed. Instead of vague, unknowable quips like "Be careful what you wish for," she should have told me time slides away on a hillside of loose shale and takes everything in its path - dreams, opportunities, hopes. And youth. It takes that fastest of all.

Kristin Hannah

mother dream opportunity

We women make choices for others, not for ourselves, and when we are mothers, we...bear what we must for our children. You will protect them. It will hurt you; it will hurt them. Your job is to hide that your heart is breaking and do what they need you to do.

Kristin Hannah

hurt mother jobs

She still felt shell-shocked by all of it, numb. Beneath the numbness, though, was a raw and terrible anger that was unlike anything she'd felt before. She had so little experience with genuine anger that it scared her. She actually worried that if she started screaming, she'd never stop.

Kristin Hannah

shells numbness littles

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

friends mother best-friend