Quotes from Jacqueline Winspear

Thus a day that had seen so many tears ended in the midst of a rainbow.

She would not allow someone for whom she had so little regard to have a negative effect on her mood at the start of a new week. -Pardonable Lies

And it occurred to her that she was so used to turning over everything in her mind, as if each thought were an intricate shell found at the beach, that she had never truly known the value of simply accepting things as they were.

Though there had yet to be a victor in this great war that had begun almost three years ago, Maurice had written to her that they had, all of them, on all sides, lost their freedom. Freedom to think hopefully of the future.

Never judge a journey by the distance...

Truth walks towards us on the paths of our questions." [Dr. Maurice Blanche]

if the way ahead is not clear, time is often the best editor of one's intentions.

I'm not really interested in the black and white, the 'goodies and baddies.' I find the complexity of the gray areas more compelling, more intriguing. As I have said before, there are angels and demons in all of us, and I am interested in the relationship between the two within the 'ordinary' person.

And there's a thin line between genius and insanity, isn't there?

I've come to the conclusion that liking a person we are required to have dealings with is not of paramount importance. But respect is crucial, on both sides, as is tolerance, and a depth of understanding of those influences that sculpt a character.

Stay with the question. The more it troubles you, the more it has to teach you. In time, Maisie, you will find that the larger questions in life share such behavior.

The feeling inside that she experienced when she saw the books was akin to the hunger she felt as food was put on the table at the end of the working day. And she knew that she needed this sustenance as surely as her body needed its fuel.

Wisdom comes when we acknowledge what we can never know.

It's because it's the beginning, and also the end. That was what she loved about the place where the water met the land. A promise of something fresh, a suggestion that even if what is happening now is to be suffered, there is an end and a beginning.

the vacuum left by the departing visitor seemed to echo along the hallway and into the walls. It was at those times, when her aloneness took on a darker hue, that she almost wished there would be no more guess, for then there would be no chasm of emptiness for her to negotiate when they were gone.

May I not sit in judgment. May I be open to hearing and accepting the truth of what I am told. May my decisions be for the good of all concerned. May my work bring peace . . . Charlotte