Quotes from Louise Penny

smelt what I took to be cleaning fluid. It was that comforting smell that means everything's clean and cared for. I figured Nellie had cleaned. Later

This man had a huge and terrible conscience riding herd on a huge and terrible greed.

Can it be that you don't trust me?

Now, Ruth." Gabri spoke with exaggerated patience. "We've been through this before. When we call for volunteers to sandbag, we don't mean to hit each other over the head with sand-filled socks." "Shit," said Ruth. "No," said Gabri. "Not shit either, as we learned last spring.

Didn't he claim Rome was conspiring to take over North America and had sent the Jesuits to kill Lincoln?" asked Émile.

She sounds like an emotional vampire," said Myrna, at last. "A what?" "I ran into quite a few in my practice. People who sucked others dry. We all know them. We're in their company and come away drained, for no apparent reason.

People were capable of believing almost anything. And hope was even more sweeping and powerful.

Most fairy tales are pretty dark.

And in the silence Leduc realized what Gamache exuded. It wasn't force. It was power.

The ways of the Creator, he knew, were hard to fathom. But not nearly as hard as the ways of the created.

heart. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

This is what comes of trust and friendship, loyalty and love, thought Peter. You get screwed. Betrayed. You get wounded so deeply you can barely breathe and sometimes it kills you. Or worse. It kills the people you love most. Ben had almost killed Clara. He'd trusted Ben. Loved Ben. And this is what happened. Never again. Gamache had been right about Matthew 10:36.

Because the present became the past, and the past grew. And got up, and followed you.

love was compass enough," said Armand quietly, "there would be no missing children.

Three craggy pines stood at the edge of the green -- like Wise Men who found what they were looking for.

Now he had her full attention. Not only because she wanted to know what had happened, but because anyone who'd get up at two in the morning to smack a melon in the dark deserves attention. Perhaps even medical attention.

believing something was even more powerful than knowing it.

So unusual was it for someone to actually think on the witness stand. They answered clear questions by telling the rehearsed truth, or a preplanned lie. But they rarely actually thought.

Fear might stop some people from committing murder, but he knew for certain fear was what drove most people to kill. It was what nested below all the other emotions. It was what twisted and turned the other emotions into something sick. It was an alchemist and could turn daylight into night, joy into despair. Fear, once taken root, blocked the sun.

Your beliefs become your thoughts Your thoughts become your words Your words become your actions Your actions become your destiny. Mahatma Gandhi,' he said. 'There's more, but I can't remember it all.

Comment allez-vous?" asked Gamache, losing his hold on the wild eye. "I'm doing well, merci. You?

He respected Gamache more than any other human being, but saw his flaw, perhaps a fatal flaw, as a desire to help people, instead of just firing them.

one question. What do I really want to do? Not for my friends, not for my family. Not for perfect strangers. But for me. Finally. It was my turn, my time. And this is yours, Armand. Yours and Reine-Marie's. What do you really want?

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