Louise Penny Quotes

“Things are strongest where they're broken.”

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

“What are you afraid of?
I'm afraid of not recognizing Paradise.”

“They waited for life to happen to them. They waited for someone to save them. Or heal them. They did nothing for themselves.”

“Where there is love, there is courage
Where there is courage, there is peace
Where there is peace, there is God
And when you have God, you have everything.”

“I was tired of seeing the Graces always depicted as beautiful young things. I think wisdom comes with age and life and pain. And knowing what matters.”

“Life is change. If you aren't growing and evolving you're standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead. Most of these people are very immature. They lead "still" lives, waiting.”

“Or - perhaps - I should just worry about my own behavior and let others be who they are.”

“But you want murderous feelings? Hang around librarians," confided Gamache. "All that silence. Gives them ideas.”

“Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your destiny.

Mahatma Ghandi,” he said. “There’s more, but I can’t remember it all.”

“Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person’s bookcase and their grocery cart, she’d pretty much know who they were.”

“It's a blessing Madame Gamache and I had at our wedding. It was read at the end of the ceremony.(Apache Blessing)”

“Now here's a good one:
you're lying on your deathbed.
You have one hour to live.
Who is it, exactly, you have needed
all these years to forgive?”

“Let every man shovel out his own snow, and the whole city will be passable," said Gamache. Seeing Beauvoir's puzzled expression he added, "Emerson."

"Lake and Palmer?"

"Ralph and Waldo.”

“Don't mistake dramatics for a conscience.”

“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.”

“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?”

“The leaves had fallen from the trees and lay crisp and crackling beneath his feet. Picking one up he marveled, not for the first time, at the perfection of nature where leaves were most beautiful at the very end of their lives.”

“Peter swept aside Yogi Tea and Harmony Herbal Blend, though he hesitated a second over the chamomile….. But no. Violent death demanded Earl Grey.”

“I often think we should have tattooed on the back of whatever hand we use to shoot or write, 'I might be wrong.”