Quotes from Louise Penny

I spent a lot of the evening watching Professor Robinson, and you want to know what I saw? I saw the fox.

We choose our thoughts. We choose our perceptions. We choose our attitudes. We may not think so. We may not believe it, but we do. I absolutely know we do. I've seen enough evidence, time after time, tragedy after tragedy. Triumph after triumph. It's about choice.

Mothers and children are classic examples. Some mothers see their job as preparing their kids to live in the big old world. To be independent, to marry and have children of their own. To live wherever they choose and do what makes them happy. That's love. Others, and we all see them, cling to their children. Move to the same city, the same neighborhood. Live through them. Stifle them. Manipulate, use guilt-trips, cripple them.

So who was the fox?" "The cunning one who convinces the others that someone innocent is actually guilty. Blaming the victim.

The mixture of café au lait and impatience was producing an exquisite vibration.

be cruel, as you know. But it can also be kind. Filled with wonders. You need to remember that. You have your own choice to make, Armand. What're you going to focus on? What's unfair, or all the wonderful things that happen? Both are true, both are real. Both need to be accepted. But which carries more weight with you?" Stephen tapped the boy's chest. "The terrible or the wonderful? The goodness or the cruelty? Your life will be decided by that choice.

So ingrained, Gamache knew, was our training to be polite that even in the midst of a terrible personal loss people still smiled.

He believed that light would banish the shadows. That kindness was more powerful than cruelty, and that goodness existed, even in the most desperate places. He believed that evil had its limits.

Still, it had been a revealing exchange, and that was his job. To get people to reveal themselves.

The lion, while nominally in charge, had actually been taken in by the fox.

A memory of a fear / that has now come true.

Watching the man approach with a strong, determined step, Rosenblatt suspected Gamache was no more retired than he himself

I'm just like this. I have no talent for choosing my battles. Life seems, strangely, like a battle to me. The whole thing.

Clara saw what others couldn't. Like that little boy in The Sixth Sense, but instead of seeing ghosts, Clara saw good. Which was itself pretty scary. So much more comforting to see bad in others; gives us all sorts of excuses for our own bad behavior. But good? No, only really remarkable people see the good in others.

Life can be cruel, as you know. But it can also be kind. Filled with wonders. You need to remember that. You have your own choice to make, Armand. What're you going to focus on? What's unfair, or all the wonderful things that happen? Both are true, both are real. Both need to be accepted. But which carries more weight with you?

She seemed tired, but also calm. "It's good to be reminded now and then that such things exist." "What things?" "Beauty. Peace." She held his eyes. "Goodness. But they're fragile and can so easily disappear, unless people are willing to do what's necessary to defend them.

Strong enough to grieve.

It was messy. Unruly. Risky. Scary. So much could go wrong. Failure was always close at hand. But so was brilliance.

There was grace in second chances and foolishness in third.

You can never let someone know too often that they're precious.

It's a Buddhist belief. One of the states of man from the Wheel of Life. The more you eat the hungrier you get. It's considered the very worst of the lives. Trying to fill a hole that only gets deeper. Fill it with food or money or power. With the admiration of others. Whatever." "The Hungry Ghost,

I don't know about normal human beings, but for alcoholics it's lethal. A secret that rotten will drive you to drink. And the drink will drive you to your grave. But not before it steals everything from you. Your loved ones, your job, your home. Your dignity. And finally, your life.

He knew she was right. But he could also feel his own conscience stirring. Accusing him of following the law, in lockstep. And marching right past common sense. Katie Evans was dead.

The Chancellor studied the man in front of her. She'd known him for decades. Seen his rise through the ranks. Seen his great fall. And seen him put himself together again and go back to doing a job that was far more than a job for him. It was written on his face.