Quotes from Louise Penny

holding on to resentments only binds you to the person you hate.

Professor Robinson was revealing, not creating, the anger. The fear. And yes, perhaps even the cowardice they kept hidden away. She was like some genetic mutation awakening illnesses that would have normally lain dormant.

What kills can't be seen, the Chief had warned Beauvoir. That's what makes it so dangerous. It's not a gun or a knife or a fist. It's not anything you can see coming. It's an emotion. Rancid, spoiled. And waiting for a chance to strike.

like a living chant. Each of us individual notes. On our own, nothing. But together? Divine. We don't just sing, we are the song.

The memory of the heart was far stronger than whatever was kept in the mind. The question was, what did people keep in their heart?

This village has known loss, people killed before their time, accidents, war, disease. Three Pines isn't immune to any of that. But you seem to accept it as part of life and not hang on to the bitterness.

always struck him how much more effective silence was than words. If the effect you were after was to disconcert.

Mais non. What?' 'Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Egotistical,' he said, slightly embarrassed about using a swear word in front of such a dignified woman,

Armand knew the terror of that first step. He also knew that the key to a full life was taking it. The trick wasn't necessarily having less fear, it was finding more courage.

Three craggy pine trees had stood at the far end of the green for as long as anyone remembered, like wise men who'd found what they were looking for.

though her legs had given way. Loss was like that, Gamache knew. You didn't just lose a loved one. You lost your heart, your memories, your laughter, your brain and it even took your bones. Eventually it all came back,

Who hurt you once / so far beyond repair / that you would greet each overture / with curling lip? It

from a distance you might see the big picture, but not the whole picture, you missed the details. Not everything was seen, from a distance.

It's vital to hear your own language, to see it written, to see it valued.

FINE? Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Egotistical?

Ruth whacked the seat beside her on the sofa, in what could only be interpreted as an invitation. It was like receiving a personalized Molotov cocktail. Gamache

Don't believe everything you think. Chief Inspector Gamache wrote that on the board for the incoming cadets at the start of every year at the Sûreté academy, and it stayed there all year.

Their creations eventually die of neglect, of malnourishment. And sometimes, when that happens the artist also dies.

The bar was, in fact, a library. A place Dickens would have been comfortable in. Where Conan Doyle might have found a useful volume. Where Jane Austen could sit and read. And get drunk, if she wanted.

It was a perfect time of year, when late summer flowers were still blooming and the leaves were turning, and the grass was still green, but the nights were chilly and sweaters were out and fires were beginning to be lit. So that the hearths at night resembled the forests in the day, all giddy and bright and cheerful. Soon everyone would head back to the

All that had been trivial, that had been comforting and familiar and safe, now seemed to be strapped with explosives.

In time, it wasn't all that long ago, but measured in events, it was an eternity.

I saw it with my clients who'd been abused either physically or emotionally. The relationship never starts with a fist to the face, or an insult. If it did there'd be no second date. It always starts gently. Kindly. The other person draws you in. To trust them. To need them. And then they slowly turn. Little by little, increasing the heat. Until you're trapped.

I am tired," Gamache murmured as he walked into the gentle little village. "But I am at peace.