The Women Quotes With Page Numbers
“Nurses back in the world are second-class citizens. And, big surprise—they’re mostly women. Men keep us in boxes, make us wear starched virgin white, and tell us that docs are gods. And the worst part is, we believe them.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Character: Ethel, Chapter 6, Page 51
“We laugh so we don’t cry.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Ethel, Chapter 6, Page 55
“Welcome to the Thirty-Sixth Evac Hospital, McGrath. Be the best version of yourself.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Major Goldstein, Chapter 7, Page 59
“The world changes for men, Frances. For women, it stays pretty much the same.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Frankie’s mother, Chapter 8, Page 74
“Words were creators of worlds; you had to be careful with them.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 10, Page 116
“there was never enough time with the people who mattered.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 10, Page 117
“Love mattered in this ruined world, but so did honor. What was one without the other?”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator about Frankie, Chapter 11, Page 119
“He was giving her that look—she knew it now—sadness wrapped in compassion, wrapped in understanding”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 12, Page 139
“Women can be heroes.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Character: Rye, Chapter 1, Pages 7, 8, Chapter 2; Page 14; Chapter 13, Page 152
“From here, the war was almost beautiful. Maybe that was a fundamental truth: War looked one way for those who saw it from a safe distance. Close up, the view was different”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 13, Page 155
“Maybe happy now, happy for a moment, is all we really get. Happy forever seems a shitload to ask in a world on fire.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Barb’s note to Frankie, Chapter 14, Page 168
“Apparently, when Walter Cronkite reported on the Tet carnage, he’d said—on air—“What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 15, Page 177
“She wouldn’t be surprised if those death stares would be a part of them forever now. Men staring into a world they no longer were a part of, no longer comprehended, a world where the ground beneath your feet exploded. Another kind of casualty.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 17, Page 202
“For a moment she held back, but the effort it took felt toxic, as if the stories she wanted to share might turn to poison inside of her.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 19, Page 230
“Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 22, Page 278
“In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 22, Page 278
“At twenty-five, Frankie moved with the kind of caution that came with age; she was constantly on guard, aware that something bad could happen at any moment. She trusted neither the ground beneath her feet nor the sky above her head. Since coming home from war, she had learned how fragile she was, how easily upended her emotions could be.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 23, Page 283
“The old white men who run this country are scared. And people do stupid, ugly things when they’re scared.” She leaned close. “But they’re counting on their power and our fear.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Character: Barb, Chapter 23, Page 290
“Love. A thing to be shouted from the rooftops, celebrated, not cultivated in secret and clipped into shape in the dark.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 31, Page 399
“regrets were a waste of time. If only was the bend in a troubling road. She learned day by day how to navigate through life, keep going, keep moving forward.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 34, Page 431
“You deserve to be loved, Frankie. In that forever kind of way. Don’t forget that.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Character: Henry, Chapter 34, Page 434
“That was the starting and ending point in life: love. The journey was everything in between.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Character: Frankie, Chapter 34, Page 440
“We were the last believers, my generation. We trusted what our parents taught us about right and wrong, good and evil, the American myth of equality and justice and honor. I wonder if any generation will ever believe again. People will say it was the war that shattered our lives and laid bare the beautiful lie we’d been taught. And they’d be right. And wrong. There was so much more. It’s hard to see clearly when the world is angry and divided and you’re being lied to.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Frankie writing on a page, Chapter 35, Page 455
“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, The Narrator, Chapter 35, Page 464
“According to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation statement, approximately 10,000 American military women were stationed in Vietnam during the war. Most were nurses in the Army, Air Force, and Navy, but women also served as physicians and medical personnel, and in air traffic control and military intelligence. Civilian women also served in Vietnam as news correspondents and workers for the Red Cross, Donut Dollies, the USO, Special Services, the American Friends Service Committee, Catholic Relief Services, and other humanitarian organizations.”
~Kristin Hannah, The Women, Author’s Note, Page 467
