Quotes from Louise Penny

This part of rue Ste.-Catherine wasn't so much an artery as an intestine.

Some so weighty we carry them our whole lives. They can blight our very existence, or they can make us stronger. They can make us bitter or teach us compassion. They can drive us to do things we never thought ourselves capable of. Wonderful achievements, like becoming Chief Inspector and Commander. Or horrific things. Terrible dark deeds.

But they [Armand Gamache and Isabelle Lacoste], better than most, knew that no place was really safe from physical harm. Anything could happen to anyone, at any moment. What made a place safe were the people. The caring. The kindness. The helping. Sometimes the mourning. And often the forgiveness.

There are four statements that lead to wisdom. I want you to remember them and follow them. Are you ready?' Agent Lemieux had taken out his notebook and, pen poised, he'd listened. 'You need to learn to say: I don't know. I'm sorry. I need help and I was wrong.' Agent

There is no way either would get into their wedding clothes. But they'd grown in other ways as well, and Gamach figured it was a good deal. If life meant growth in all directions, it was fine with him.

He expected people to play fair. Rules meant order. Without them they'd be killing each other. It began with butting in, with parking in disabled spaces, with smoking in elevators. And it ended in murder.

the wiry, self-contained man had stared at him for a few seconds then invited him to sit and told him the four sentences that lead to wisdom. He'd said them only once, never repeating them. But once had been enough for Gamache. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I need help. I don't know.

Yes, the real danger always came from the thing you couldn't see.

he wondered if, in his effort to get to safety, he wasn't fleeing from a wreck but causing it.

Give bad news swiftly, and spread out the good news. Machiavelli." Charpentier

What's the use of healing, if the life that's saved is callow and selfish and ruled by fear? There's a difference between being in sanctuary and being in hiding." "So you have to leave sanctuary in order to have it?" she asked.

Fucked-up. Insecure. Neurotic. Egotistical.

How many clients had Myrna sat across from as they complained about having been "done wrong"? Whose grip on grievances was so tight it strangled reason. They'd give up sanity before giving up these injustices.

He now knew that happiness and kindness went together.

Life is change. If you aren't growing and evolving you're standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead.

I don't know. I need help. I was wrong. I'm sorry." Armond Gamache

the four statements that led to wisdom. Never repeating them. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I don't know. I need help.

I'll pray that you grow up a brave man in a brave country," Clara said. "I will pray you find a way to be useful," Gamache completed the quote.

Why were there no words that felt? Words that when you touched them you'd feel what was intended? The chasm left by the loss of Madeleine? The lump in the throat that fizzed and ached. The terror of falling asleep knowing that on waking she'd relive the loss, like Prometheus bound and tormented each day. Everything had changed. Even her grammar. Suddenly she lived in the past tense. And the singular.

Clara rocked back and forth, back and forth, cradling her loss. Earlier in the day she'd felt someone had scooped her heart and her brain right out of her body. Now they were back, but they were broken. Her brain jumped madly about the place, but always back to that one scorched spot.

Matthew 10:36. 'And a man's foes shall be they of his own household

Kebek. An Algonquin word. Where the river narrows.

He did not suggest that she sit quietly and get to know herself so she could be all the company she needed.

You're wrong there,' said Ruth, following Myrna's gaze. 'This used to be my drug of choice. In my teens my drug of choice was acceptance, in my twenties it was approval, in my thirties it was love, in my forties it was Scotch. That lasted a while,' she admitted. 'Now all I really crave is a good bowel movement.