--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He had been fourteen when the planes hit." description: "\"“He had been fourteen when the planes hit.”\" — Hugh Howey" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png" --- # He had been fourteen when the planes hit. ![“He had been fourteen when the planes hit.” quote by Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png) > ““He had been fourteen when the planes hit.”” [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A teenager’s life is irrevocably altered by a catastrophic event, highlighting youthful vulnerability. **In simple terms:** Teen’s life changes after disaster. Key Takeaway Prepare youth for unexpected crises. Themes adolescence trauma change Mood somber reflective Type fictional narrative When to use this quote - disaster drills - school counseling - family emergency plans - media narratives Key Concepts psychology survival storytelling Questions to Reflect On - How can resilience be taught to teens? - What narratives help process loss? A Different Perspective Focusing on trauma can be distressing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fourteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fourteen/) [Fourteen Planes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fourteen-planes-3652502/) [Planes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planes/) [Planes Hit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planes-hit-3652503/) [Strategy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strategy/) ## Related quotes > [I'm always on a train or a plane, so wherever I happen to be is home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keren-ann/i-m-always-on-a-train-or-a-plane-so-wherever-i-happen-to-be-is-home/) [Keren Ann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keren-ann/) > [One does not travel by plane. One is merely sent, like a parcel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/one-does-not-travel-by-plane-one-is-merely-sent-like-a-parcel/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [At the other end of the spectrum, George Gideon Oliver King Rameses Osborne, the fourteen-year-old novelty Chancellor and future baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-brooker/at-the-other-end-of-the-spectrum-george-gideon-oliver-king-rameses/) [Charlie Brooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-brooker/) > [At the age of five years to enter a spinning-cotton or other factory, and from that time forth to sit there daily, first ten,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/at-the-age-of-five-years-to-enter-a-spinning-cotton-or-other-factory/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [I started writing when I was about fourteen, but when I was about sixteen you know, I heard Outkast, that was pretty much when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bubba-sparxxx/i-started-writing-when-i-was-about-fourteen-but-when-i-was-about/) [Bubba Sparxxx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bubba-sparxxx/) > [There's an easy method for finding someone when you hear them scream. First get a clean sheet of paper and a sharp pencil. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-an-easy-method-for-finding-someone-when-you-hear-them-scream/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Looking back through the mists of time, I recall some distinctly religious experiences in my teens--when I was only fourteen years old to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/looking-back-through-the-mists-of-time-i-recall-some-distinctly/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [I've got a bottle and a girl who's fourteen and a damn good case of Mexicali Blues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grateful-dead/i-ve-got-a-bottle-and-a-girl-who-s-fourteen-and-a-damn-good-case-of/) [Grateful Dead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grateful-dead/) > [Many people have heard the remarkable example of devotion involving a Skye terrier dog who worked for a Scottish shepherd named Old Jock. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/many-people-have-heard-the-remarkable-example-of-devotion-involving-a/) [Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/) > [I'm fourteen years old; that's almost half-way to thirty. I need my own space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-mack/i-m-fourteen-years-old-that-s-almost-half-way-to-thirty-i-need-my-own/) [Alex Mack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-mack/) > [Pro-rated at 500 at-bats a year that means that for two years out of the fourteen I played, I never even touched the ball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norm-cash/pro-rated-at-500-at-bats-a-year-that-means-that-for-two-years-out-of/) [Norm Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norm-cash/) > [I don't want to play into the perception that all women should look like fourteen year old boys. I don't want to add to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-heard/i-don-t-want-to-play-into-the-perception-that-all-women-should-look/) [Amber Heard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amber-heard/) > [He decided then that he would love her forever no matter what came to pass. It was not so much a matter of deciding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/he-decided-then-that-he-would-love-her-forever-no-matter-what-came-to/) [David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/) > [“One minute you’re a happy fourteen-yearold—good at everything you try, popular, fun—the next you’re a freak with wings”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-hand/one-minute-you-re-a-happy-fourteen-yearold-good-at-everything-you-try/) [Cynthia Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-hand/) > [Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died, we buried…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/palindrome-as-well-my-sister-s-name-is-hannah-father-liked-word-games/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) ## More by Hugh Howey > [“the mind-numbing routine. It was the castration of thought,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/the-mind-numbing-routine-it-was-the-castration-of-thought/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“a crime to fell a tree and light it on fire, where coals of hardened shit warmed and stunk up homes,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/a-crime-to-fell-a-tree-and-light-it-on-fire-where-coals-of-hardened/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [Even in the darkness, his smile threw shadows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/even-in-the-darkness-his-smile-threw-shadows/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“The Loud came before the quiet. That was a Rule of the World, for the bangs and shouts need somewhere to echo, just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/the-loud-came-before-the-quiet-that-was-a-rule-of-the-world-for-the/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“People from IT sent to replace those they’d killed. Juliette’s”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/people-from-it-sent-to-replace-those-they-d-killed-juliette-s/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“a heap of words designed to hinder communication rather than facilitate it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/a-heap-of-words-designed-to-hinder-communication-rather-than/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“That leaves Bravo Company, the expendables who know what they’re doing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/that-leaves-bravo-company-the-expendables-who-know-what-they-re-doing/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“Sleep was a vehicle for passing the time, for avoiding the present. It was a trolley for the depressed, the impatient, and the dying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/sleep-was-a-vehicle-for-passing-the-time-for-avoiding-the-present-it/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“Overhead, tangles of wires knotted together in a grand display of unplanned infrastructure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/overhead-tangles-of-wires-knotted-together-in-a-grand-display-of/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“Montana wants to scream, but the thing she is angry at is in the past. The past can’t hear her. This is the thing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/montana-wants-to-scream-but-the-thing-she-is-angry-at-is-in-the-past/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“I guess what I'm sayin' is, if you want to give Jules a job, be very careful.” “Why be careful?” Marnes asked. Marck gazed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/i-guess-what-i-m-sayin-is-if-you-want-to-give-jules-a-job-be-very/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [One of the many things that surprised me about 'Wool' is how many of its fans don't consider themselves science fiction readers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/one-of-the-many-things-that-surprised-me-about-wool-is-how-many-of/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“We have allowed a dangerous forest to grow as we try to guard against individual trees.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/we-have-allowed-a-dangerous-forest-to-grow-as-we-try-to-guard-against/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“You’re . . . a rock,” I tell the rock. “The fuck I am.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/you-re-a-rock-i-tell-the-rock-the-fuck-i-am/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“I hated Sundays as a kid. From the moment I woke up, I could feel Monday looming,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/i-hated-sundays-as-a-kid-from-the-moment-i-woke-up-i-could-feel/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) [Explore all 351 Hugh Howey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) ## More Fourteen quotes > [Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died, we buried…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/palindrome-as-well-my-sister-s-name-is-hannah-father-liked-word-games/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [“One minute you’re a happy fourteen-yearold—good at everything you try, popular, fun—the next you’re a freak with wings”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-hand/one-minute-you-re-a-happy-fourteen-yearold-good-at-everything-you-try/) [Cynthia Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-hand/) > [He decided then that he would love her forever no matter what came to pass. It was not so much a matter of deciding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/he-decided-then-that-he-would-love-her-forever-no-matter-what-came-to/) [David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/) > [I don't want to play into the perception that all women should look like fourteen year old boys. I don't want to add to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-heard/i-don-t-want-to-play-into-the-perception-that-all-women-should-look/) [Amber Heard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amber-heard/) > [Pro-rated at 500 at-bats a year that means that for two years out of the fourteen I played, I never even touched the ball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norm-cash/pro-rated-at-500-at-bats-a-year-that-means-that-for-two-years-out-of/) [Norm Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norm-cash/) > [I'm fourteen years old; that's almost half-way to thirty. I need my own space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-mack/i-m-fourteen-years-old-that-s-almost-half-way-to-thirty-i-need-my-own/) [Alex Mack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-mack/) > [Many people have heard the remarkable example of devotion involving a Skye terrier dog who worked for a Scottish shepherd named Old Jock. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/many-people-have-heard-the-remarkable-example-of-devotion-involving-a/) [Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-moussaieff-masson/) > [I've got a bottle and a girl who's fourteen and a damn good case of Mexicali Blues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grateful-dead/i-ve-got-a-bottle-and-a-girl-who-s-fourteen-and-a-damn-good-case-of/) [Grateful Dead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grateful-dead/) > [Looking back through the mists of time, I recall some distinctly religious experiences in my teens--when I was only fourteen years old to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/looking-back-through-the-mists-of-time-i-recall-some-distinctly/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [There's an easy method for finding someone when you hear them scream. First get a clean sheet of paper and a sharp pencil. Then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-an-easy-method-for-finding-someone-when-you-hear-them-scream/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I started writing when I was about fourteen, but when I was about sixteen you know, I heard Outkast, that was pretty much when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bubba-sparxxx/i-started-writing-when-i-was-about-fourteen-but-when-i-was-about/) [Bubba Sparxxx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bubba-sparxxx/) > [At the age of five years to enter a spinning-cotton or other factory, and from that time forth to sit there daily, first ten,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/at-the-age-of-five-years-to-enter-a-spinning-cotton-or-other-factory/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [At the other end of the spectrum, George Gideon Oliver King Rameses Osborne, the fourteen-year-old novelty Chancellor and future baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-brooker/at-the-other-end-of-the-spectrum-george-gideon-oliver-king-rameses/) [Charlie Brooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-brooker/) > [May your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and only slightly uphill. May the wind bring rain for the slickrock potholes fourteen miles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/may-your-trails-be-dim-lonesome-stony-narrow-winding-and-only/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [. . . And so Charlie Asher . . . led an army of fourteen-inch-tall bundles of animal bits, armed with everything from knitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-moore/and-so-charlie-asher-led-an-army-of-fourteen-inch-tall-bundles-of/) [Christopher Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-moore/) [Browse all 350 Fourteen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fourteen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He had been fourteen when the planes hit.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hugh Howey" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fourteen" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/978/hugh-howey-841_fourteen_he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit_1208479.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He had been fourteen when the planes hit.” — Hugh Howey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hugh Howey", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“He had been fourteen when the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/he-had-been-fourteen-when-the-planes-hit/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```