The Nightingale Quotes

“I had forgotten how gently time passes in Paris. As lively as the city is, there's a stillness to it, a peace that lures you in. In Paris, with a glass of wine in your hand, you can just be.
All along the Seine, street lamps come on, apartment windows turn golden.
"It's seven," Julien says, and I realize that he has been keeping time all along, waiting. He is so American. No sitting idle, forgetting oneself, not for this young man of mine.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Antoine was Julien’s father in every way that mattered. It is not biology that determines fatherhood. It is love.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“The lights are going out all over Europe; We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. —SIR EDWARD GREY, ON WORLD WAR I”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“I can’t help smiling at that. He is such an American, this son of mine. He thinks one’s life can be distilled to a narrative that has a beginning and an end. He knows nothing about the kind of sacrifice that, once made, can never be either fully forgotten or fully borne. And how could he? I have protected him from all of that.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“He leans close and kisses each of my cheeks, whispering, "I loved her all of my life," as he draws back.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“I don’t know why it’s so easy for me to forget how much I love her. We start fighting, and…” “Sisters.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“You will learn that a lot of things are possible.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“She thought: It doesn't hurt, it's just my body. They can't touch my soul. It had become her mantra.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Morning sunlight gave everything a golden, beautiful glow. “We were supposed to have time,” she whispered, feeling tears start. How often had she imagined a new beginning for her and Papa, for all of them? They would come together after the war, Isabelle and Vianne and Papa, learn to laugh and talk and be a family again. Now it would never happen; she would never get to know her father, never feel the warmth of his hand in hers, never fall asleep on the divan beside him, never be able to say all that needed to be said between them. Those words were lost, turned into ghosts that would drift away, unsaid. They would never be the family maman had promised.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“How can I possibly sleep at a time like this?” He sighed. “You will learn that a lot of things are possible.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“what good is safety if she has to grow up in a world where people disappear without a trace because they pray to a different God?”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“I think, as this war goes on, we will all have to look more deeply. These questions are not about them, but about us.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“But now it is time to look ahead, not behind.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Love. It was the beginning and end of everything, the foundation and the ceiling and the air in between. It didn’t matter that she was broken and ugly and sick. He loved her and she loved him. All her life she had waited—longed for—people to love her, but now she saw what really mattered. She had known love, been blessed by it. Papa. Maman. Sophie. Antoine. Micheline. Anouk. Henri. Gaëtan. Vianne. She”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“She was crying for it all at last--for the pain and loss and fear and anger, for the war and what it had done to her and to all of them, for the knowledge of evil she could never shake, for the horror of where she'd been and what she'd done to survive.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“We are outside again, walking, when he takes a bite and stops dead. "Wow," he says after a minute. Then, "Wow," again.
I smile. Everyone remembers their first taste of Paris. This will be his.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“A single diamond brooch was her only adornment (one good piece, ladies, and choose it well; everything makes a statement, nothing speaks quite so loudly as cheapness).”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“She was wiser than she'd been before. Now she knew how fragile life and love were. Maybe she would love him for only this day, or maybe for only the next week, or maybe until she was an old, old woman. Maybe he would be the love of her life... or her love for the duration of this war... or maybe he would only be her first love. All she really knew was that in this terrible, frightening world, she had stumbled into something unexpected. And she would not let it go again.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Their kiss was sad, an apology almost, a reminder of what they’d once shared.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“You are not alone, and you are not the one in charge," Mother said gently. "Ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. I think that is how we serve God - and each other and ourselves - in times as dark as these.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I’d like to be known.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“She looked at Vianne, and the universe of their friendship was in her eyes - the secrets they'd shared, the promises they'd made and kept, the dreams for their children that bound them as neatly as sisters.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Isabelle had always simply reacted in her life. Someone left her behind; she followed. Someone told her she couldn't do something; she did it. Every barrier she turned into a gate.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“She had this terrible, irrational fear that if she let go of him she would never touch him again and the thought of that was paralyzing.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“Sophie was too old for lies and too young for the truth.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“You are my sunlight in the dark and the ground beneath my feet. Because of you, I can survive. I hope that you can find strength in me, too, V. That because of me, you will find a way to be strong. Hold my daughter tightly tonight, and tell her that somewhere far away, her papa is thinking of her. And tell her I will return.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“From now on, she was Juliette Gervaise, code name the Nightingale.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“I don’t know the right thing to do anymore. I want to protect Sophie and keep her safe, but what good is safety if she has to grow up in a world where people disappear without a trace because they pray to a different God?”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale

“He had the kind of smile that inhabited every part of his face-his eyes, his cheeks; there was even a dimple. I wear my heart on my sleeve, that smile said, and no woman could be unmoved by such transparency.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale