Louise Penny Quotes

the answers lay in flesh and blood, not in a book and not in a report. And so often not even in things corporeal, but in something that couldn't be held and contained and touched. The answers to his questions lay in the murky past and in the emotions hidden there. The ~ Louise Penny

than men, that's all I figured it was.' 'How'd you ~ Louise Penny

Like the street his gallery was on, Fortin had an attractive front, hiding quite a foul interior. He was opportunistic. He fed on the talent of others. Got rich on the talent of others. While most of the artists themselves barely scraped by, and took all the risks. ~ Louise Penny

Some people keep their darkness inside, and some hide their light. You, mon ami, almost certainly have a croissant in there. ~ Louise Penny

Chief Superintendent Arnot might hold power, but Armand Gamache was the more powerful man. ~ Louise Penny

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. ~ Louise Penny

It was like archeology. There was digging and there was dirt. And there was broken things. ~ Louise Penny

Nice hair.' Olivier turned to Clara, hoping to break the tension.
'Thank you.' Clara ran her hands through it, making it stand on end as though she'd just had a scare.
'You're right.' Olivier turned to Myrna. 'She looks like a frightened doughboy from the trenches of Vimy. Not many people could carry off that look. Very bold, very new millennium. I salute you.'
Clara narrowed her eyes and glared at Myrna whose smile went from ear to ear. ~ Louise Penny

When senior officers start shooting each other, it's time to leave," said Gamache. "I'm sure it's somewhere in the regulations. ~ Louise Penny

To be silent. In hopes of not offending, in hopes of being accepted.
But what happened to people who never spoke, never raised their voices? Kept everything inside?
Gamache knew what happened. Everything they swallowed, every word, thought, feeling rattled around inside, hollowing the person out. And into that chasm they stuffed their words, their rage. ~ Louise Penny

There is a balm in Gilead," she read from the back, "to make the wounded whole - " "There's power enough in Heaven / To cure a sin-sick soul. ~ Louise Penny

There is always a road back. If we have the courage to look for it, and take it. I'm sorry. I was wrong. I don't know. I need help. These are the signposts. The cardinal directions. ~ Louise Penny

They'd reached St Thomas's and climbed the half-dozen wooden steps to the small veranda. Gamache ~ Louise Penny

You too?" She asked Ruth. "How do your poems start out?"
"They start as a lump in the throat," she said. ~ Louise Penny

There are generally three parties to child abuse: the abused, the abuser and the bystander. ~ Louise Penny

The bistro was his secret weapon in tracking down murderers. Not just in Three Pines, but in every town and village in Quebec. First he found a comfortable café or brasserie, or bistro, then he found the murderer. Because Armand Gamache knew something many of his colleagues never figured out. Murder was deeply human, the murdered and the murderer. To describe the murderer as a monstrosity, a grotesque, was to give him an unfair advantage. No. Murderers were human, and at the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost.

Gamache's job was to collect the evidence, but also to collect the emotions. And the only way he knew to do that was do get to know the people. To watch and listen. To pay attention, and the best way to do that was in a deceptively casual way in a deceptively casual setting.

Like the bistro. ~ Louise Penny

Oscar Wilde said that conscience and cowardice are the same thing. What stops us from doing horrible things isn't our conscience but the fear of getting caught. ~ Louise Penny

Some other brown stuff that might not be mud into her tangled hair. All around, villagers wandered with their baskets of brightly colored eggs, looking for the perfect hiding places. Ruth Zardo sat on the bench in the middle of the green tossing ~ Louise Penny

Grief took a terrible toll. It was paid at every birthday, every holiday, each Christmas. It was paid when glimpsing the familiar handwriting, or a hat, or a balled-up sock. Or hearing a creak that could have been, should have been, a footstep. Grief took its toll each morning, each evening, every noon hour as those who were left behind struggled forward. ~ Louise Penny

There's no wrong answer. Just the truth. ~ Louise Penny

Most of us are great with change, as long it was our idea. But change imposed from the outside can send some people into a tailspin. - Myrna Landers ~ Louise Penny

The near enemy. It's a psychological concept. Two emotions that look the same but are actually opposites. The one parades as the other, is mistaken for the other, but one is healthy and the other's sick, twisted. There are three couplings. Attachment masquerades as Love, Pity as Compassion, and Indifference as Equanimity.

Compassion involves empathy. You see the stricken person as an equal. Pity doesn't. If you pity someone, you feel superior. As long as the pity's in place there's not room for compassion. It squeezes out the nobler emotion. ~ Louise Penny

•…transferring her hunger to eat into a hunger to hurt. He didn't turn round. She knew she should let it go, but it was too late. She'd chewed the insult over, torn it apart and swallowed it. The insult was part of her now. ~ Louise Penny

But he realized Henri already knew all he'd ever need. He knew he was loved and he knew how to love. ~ Louise Penny

Change the facts and you'll change the feelings."
Chapter 20 · Page 175 · Location 3170 ~ Louise Penny

They were home. He always felt a bit like a snail, but instead of carrying his home on his back, he carried it in his arms. ~ Louise Penny

Gabri plugged the oven and the espresso machine into the generator,' explained Olivier. 'No lights, but we have the necessities. ~ Louise Penny

No one could look at the beautiful young man now. They dropped their eyes from the scalding sight. From the eclipse. As all that love turned into hate. ~ Louise Penny

Getting in his car he let it warm up, feeling the heated seats grow warm under him. On a bitterly cold winter day it was almost as good as sex. Then ~ Louise Penny

Peter always had a 'best before' date stamped on his forehead," said Ruth. "People who live in their heads do. They start out well enough, but eventually they run out of ideas. And if there's no imagination, no inspiration to fall back on? Then what? ~ Louise Penny

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

I turned down all the requests for the rights to the books, for years, mostly because they wanted the rights to the characters, and to turn it into a TV series. This would have allowed them to do anything they wanted with the characters, and that just wasn't an option for me. ~ Louise Penny

She was stuffing her innards back. Sewing herself up, putting her skin, her make-up, her party frock back on. ~ Louise Penny

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. ~ Louise Penny

Why be a saint unless you could also be a martyr? ~ Louise Penny

A murder was never about brawn, it began and ended in the brain and the brain could justify anything. ~ Louise Penny

... walked deep into the shadow, deep into the longhouse where all his experiences and memories lived ... ~ Louise Penny

Control your thoughts and you can control your emotions. Do you trust me? ~ Louise Penny

Have you noticed that more people seem to be dying than are being born? Bean asked, handing the section to Finney, who took it and nodded solemnly.
"That means there's more for those of us still here." He handed the section back.
"I don't want more," said Bean.
"You will. ~ Louise Penny

Be very, very careful who you let into your life. And learn to make peace with whatever happens. You can't erase the past. It's trapped in there with you. But you can make peace with it. If you don't,' he said, 'you'll be at perpetual war. ~ Louise Penny

Everyone we meet, every word we speak, every action taken or not taken lives in our longhouse. With us. Always. Never to be expelled or locked away. ~ Louise Penny

Like a first love, the place where peace is first found is never, ever forgotten. ~ Louise Penny

She put her hands together and Saul hoped she wasn't about to say -
'Namaste,' said CC, bowing. 'He taught me that. Very spiritual.'
She said 'spiritual' so often it had become meaningless to Saul.
'He said, CC Das, you have a great spiritual gift. You must leave this place and share it with the world. You must tell people to be calm.'
As she spoke Saul mouthed the words, lip-synching to the familiar tune.
'CC Das, he said, you above all others know that when the chakras are in alignment all is white. And when all is white, all is right.'
Saul wondered whether she was confusing an Indian mystic with a KKK member. Ironic, really, if she was. ~ Louise Penny

That was why she was happy. He now knew that happiness ad kindness went together. There was not one without the other. For Jean-Guy it was a struggle. For Annie it seemed natural. ~ Louise Penny

Murder was deeply human. A person was killed and a person killed. And what powered the final thrust wasn't a whim, wasn't an event. It was an emotion. Something once healthy and human had become wretched and bloated and finally buried. But not put to rest. It lay there, often for decades, feeding on itself, growing and gnawing, grim and full of grievance. Until it finally broke free of all human restraint. Not conscience, not fear, not social convention could contain it. When that happened, all hell broke loose. And a man became a monster. ~ Louise Penny

A belief of convenience isn't much use, is it? ~ Louise Penny

Approaching Em's cottage, especially at night, always enchanted him. It was like walking into those fairy tales he'd read by flashlight under his bedcovers, full of rose-covered cottages and small stone bridges, glowing hearths and content couples hand in hand. His relieved father had thought he was reading Playboy but instead he was doing something infinitely more pleasurable and dangerous. He was dreaming of the day he'd create this fairy-tale world for himself, and he'd succeeded, at least in part. He had himself become a fairy. And as he looked at Em's cottage, its buttery light beaconing, he knew he'd walked right into the book he'd used to comfort himself when the world seemed cold and hard and unfair. Now he smiled and walked toward the house, carrying his Christmas Eve offering. ~ Louise Penny

She took the long way home," said Ruth. "Some do, you know. They seem lost. Sometimes they might even head off in the wrong direction. Lots of people give up, say they're gone forever, but I don't believe that. Some make it home, eventually. ~ Louise Penny

Every decade of my life I attempted to write a novel. But I had nothing to say. I was far too self-absorbed, and now I realize I was writing for others, so that they'd applaud me, see my genius, tell me how wonderful I am, or be jealous of my success. ~ Louise Penny

I'm sorry. I shouldn't be working."
"Of course you should. I'm alright."
"Even F.I.N.E.?"
She laughed. "Especially that."
Fucked-up. Insecure. Neurotic. Egotistical. ~ Louise Penny

The reason Armand Gamache could go there was because it wasn't totally foreign to him. He knew it because he'd seen his own burned terrain, he'd walked off the familiar and comfortable path inside his own head and heart and seen what festered in the dark. And one day Jean Guy Beauvoir would look at his own monsters, and then be able to recognize others. And maybe this was the day and this was the case. He hoped so. ~ Louise Penny

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

How close you came to dying? I did." "Maybe this is why I didn't." Hancock regarded Gamache. "Are you saying you were spared to stop me from jumping over the cliff? ~ Louise Penny

We choose our thoughts. We choose our perceptions. We choose our attitudes ~ Louise Penny

... it's not the truth about others that will set you free, but the truth about yourself. ~ Louise Penny

was that he hadn't yet figured out ~ Louise Penny

She picked up her book and tried to read but it was heavy in her hands. She struggled to hold it, wanting to finish the story, wanting to know how it ended. She was afraid she'd run out of time before she ran out of book. ~ Louise Penny

A coy smile could capture him, but it was finally a hearty laugh that had freed him. ~ Louise Penny

You know for sure Jane would be annoyed she gave you all her money and you're not even enjoying it. Should have given it to me.' Myrna had shaken her head in mock bewilderment. 'I'd have known what to do with it. Boom, down to Jamaica, a nice Rasta man, a good book - '
'Wait a minute. You have a Rasta man and you're reading a book?'
'Oh, yes. Each has a purpose. For instance, a Rasta man is great when he's hard, but not a book.'
Clara had laughed. They shared a disdain for hard books. Not the content, but the cover. Hardcovers were simply too hard to hold, especially in bed.
'Unlike a Rasta man,' said Myrna. ~ Louise Penny

Take this in to them, s'il vous plaît," Chef Véronique's large ruddy hand trembled slightly as she motioned to the trays. "And bring out the pots already there. They'll want fresh tea."

She knew this was a lie. What the family wanted they could never have again. But tea was all she could give them. So she made it. Over and over. ~ Louise Penny

Time, it covered over everything eventually. Events, people, memory. Chiniquy had disappeared beneath Time. ~ Louise Penny

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

They'd crossed over to that continent where grieving parents lived. It looked the same as the rest of the world, but wasn't. Colors bled pale. Music was just notes. Books no longer transported or comforted, not fully. Never again. Food was nutrition, little more. Breaths were sighs. And they knew something the rest didn't. They knew how lucky the rest of the world was. ~ Louise Penny

I've been treating you with courtesy and respect because that's the way I choose to treat everyone. But never, ever mistake kindness with weakness. ~ Louise Penny

People wandered in for books and conversation. They brought their stories to her, some bound, and some known by heart. She recognized some of the stories as real, and some as fiction. But she honored them all, though she didn't buy every one. ~ Louise Penny

I think you might try leading your life as though it's just you. If he comes back and you know your life will be better with him, then great. But you'll also know you're enough on your own. ~ Louise Penny

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. Reine-Marie dropped her eyes to her hands and saw the paper napkin twisted and shredded there. Clara nodded slowly. "I think you might be right. Peter went to Paris not to find a new artistic voice. It was simpler than that. He wanted to find a way to be useful. ~ Louise Penny

In trying to capture the beautiful mystery, this monk had invented written music. Not yet notes, what he'd written became known as neumes. ~ Louise Penny

We live in a world of guided missiles
and misguided men. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

New Brunswick. Shediac. Lobster Capital of the World. ~ Louise Penny

Life is choice. All day, everyday. Who we talk to, where we sit, what we say, how we say it. And our lives become defined by our choices. It's as simple and as complex as that. And as powerful. so when I'm observing that's what I'm watching for. The choices people make ~ Louise Penny

We don't just sing; we are the song. ~ Louise Penny

Why do decent young men and women become bullies? Why do soldiers dream of being heroes but end up abusing prisoners and shooting civilians? Why do politicians become corrupt? Why do cops beat suspects senseless and break the laws they're meant to protect? ~ Louise Penny

It was said with humor, but the criticism wasn't lost on Gamache. He was fishing, and he knew it. So did Sommes. So did Esther. We're all fishermen, she'd said. ~ Louise Penny

Homes, Gamache knew, were a self portrait. A person's choice of color, furnishing, pictures, every touch revealed the individual. God, or the devil, was in the details. And so was the human. Was it dirty, messy, obsessively clean? Were the decorations chosen to impress, or were they a hodgepodge of personal history? Was the space cluttered or clear? He felt a thrill every time he entered a home during an investigation. ~ Louise Penny

Thinking is an action, ~ Louise Penny

And I would never, ever mock the power of love. But it can also distort. Slip over into desperation and delusion. ~ Louise Penny

We're all blessed and we're all blighted, Chief Inspector," said Finney. "Everyday each of us does our sums. The question is, what do we count? ~ Louise Penny

All Armand's life Honoré had lived in light. Unchallenged….Armand put out his hand, and touched the door. The last room, the last door [in the longhouse]. The last territory to explore didn't hold monstrous hate or bitterness or rancid resentments. It held love. Blinding, beautiful love. ~ Louise Penny

Beauvoir knew that the root of all evil wasn't money. No, what created and drove evil was fear. Fear of not having enough money, enough food, enough land, enough power, enough security, enough love. Fear of not getting what you want, or losing what you have. ~ Louise Penny

The world turned upside down,' Beauvoir continued. 'It was at once more beautiful and more frightening than you'd been led to believe. And suddenly you didn't know what to do. Who to trust. Where to turn. It's terrifying. Being lost is so much worse than being on the wrong road. That's why people stay on it for so long. ~ Louise Penny

I see." Gamache lowered his voice, though all could still hear the words. "When I was Chief Superintendent, I had a framed poster in my office. On it were the last words of a favorite poet, Seamus Heaney. Noli timere. It's Latin. Do you know what it means?"

He looked around the room.

"Neither did I," he admitted when no one spoke. "I had to look it up. It means 'Be Not Afraid.' His eyes returned to the unhappy young agent. "In this job you'll have to do things that scare you. You might be afraid, but you must be brave. When I ask you to do something, you must trust there's a good reason. And I need to trust that you will do it. D'accord? ~ Louise Penny

Peter Morrow took no risks. He neither failed nor succeeded. There were no valleys, but neither were there mountains. Peter's landscape was flat. An endless, predictable desert. ~ Louise Penny

He knew time could heal. But it could also do more damage. A forest fire, spread over time, would consume everything. ~ Louise Penny

Recruiters, for terrorist cells and police forces and armies, relied on this simple truth: if you got people young enough, they could be made to do just about anything. ~ Louise Penny

That was the danger. Not that betrayals happened, not that cruel things happened, but that they could outweigh all the good. That we could forget the good and only remember the bad. ~ Louise Penny

An unsuspected yearning uncovered, discovered. For a simpler time and a simpler life. Before Internet, and climate change, and terrorism. When neighbors worked together, and separation was not a topic or an issue or wise. ~ Louise Penny

Young Langlois had sat down and gathered that power to him. The power that came from having information, knowledge, thoughts, and a calm place to collect them. ~ Louise Penny

Aid workers, when handing out food to starving people, quickly learn that the people fighting for it at the front are the people who need it least. It's the people sitting quietly at the back, too weak to fight, who need it the most. And so too with tragedy. ~ Louise Penny

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. ~ Louise Penny

The glass was old. Leaded. Imperfect. And it was the imperfections that were creating the play of light. ~ Louise Penny

This was the great benefit of seeing worse. Fewer things worried him now. ~ Louise Penny

Joy doesn't ever leave, you know. It's always with you. And one day you'll find it again. ~ Louise Penny

Conscience. Imagine being pursued by your own conscience ... .A mountain of conscience. Throwing a lengthening shadow. Growing. Darkening. ~ Louise Penny

You have one hour to live. Who is it, exactly, you have needed all these years to forgive?" Myrna ~ Louise Penny

She taught me that life goes on, and that I had a choice. To lament what I no longer had or be grateful for what remained. ~ Louise Penny

... in the library ... surrounded by things far more dangerous than what roamed the school corridors. For here thoughts were housed. ~ Louise Penny

She'd wanted to run an inn. To welcome people, to mother them. They had no children of their own, and she had a powerful need to nurture. ~ Louise Penny

Like a ship changing course. It might take a while to get to port, but at least it was going in the right direction. ~ Louise Penny

Almost invariably people expected that if you were a good person you shouldn't meet a bad end, that only the deserving are killed and certainly only the deserving are murdered. However well hidden and subtle, there was a sense that a murdered person had somehow asked for it. That's why the shock when someone they knew to be kind and good was a victim. There was a feeling that surely there had been a mistake. ~ Louise Penny