A Great Reckoning

Don’t believe everything you think,” said Gamache, before releasing the hand and opening the door. “Pema Chödrön. A Buddhist nun.

It’s so easy to get mired in the all too obvious cruelty of the world. It’s natural. But to really heal, we need to recognize the goodness too.

The lines of his face were the longitude and latitude of his life.

Things are strongest where they’re broken,

Love and worry. They went hand in hand. Fellow travelers.

It was a careworn face. But most of the lines, if followed back like a trail, would lead to happiness. To the faces a face made when laughing or smiling, or sitting quietly enjoying the day. Though some of those lines led elsewhere. Into a wilderness, into the wild. Where terrible things had happened. Some of the lines of his face led to events inhuman and abominable. To horrific sights. To unspeakable acts. Some of them his. The lines of his face were the longitude and latitude of his life.

emotions were far from linear. They were circles and waves and dots and triangles. But they were rarely a straight line." Chapter 13 · Page 114 · Location 2031

Marcus Aurelius. The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

When someone shoots at us, we return fire,” said Jean-Guy. Now Jacques did nod. “But it’s equally important that when someone is kind to us, we return that as well,

One must always have a song in the heart.” “And an éclair in the hand,

Anyone could be clever. Anyone could be smart. Anyone could be taught. But not everyone was kind." Chapter 1 · Page 10 · Location 202

It’s too easy to feed the anger. Too cowardly to stoke the hate. You must look inside yourself and decide who you are and who you want to be. Character is not created in times like these. It’s revealed. This is a trying time. A testing time. Be careful.” Chapter 14 · Page 122 · Location 2188

Ruth believed in precycling. An evolution on recycling. She made use of things before people threw them out.

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.

She suspected if they looked in Gamache’s bedside table, they’d find all sorts of lost souls he put there for safekeeping. And maybe a baguette.

Rumors are hard to prove, but they’re even harder to disprove. We both know that character assassination is easy. All it takes is a suggestion. A well-placed word in someone’s ear.

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.

Change the facts and you’ll change the feelings.” Chapter 20 · Page 175 · Location 3170

Give bad news swiftly, and spread out the good news. Machiavelli.” Charpentier

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

What happened when you gave in to temptation. When you listened to the fallen angels of your nature.

He would be the object lesson, the walking warning to the cadets. What happened when you gave in to temptation. When you listened to the fallen angels of your nature.

It was a post her former colleagues no doubt viewed as a significant step down. But Reine Marie wasn’t interested in steps. She’d arrived at where she wanted to be. No more steps." Chapter 1 · Page 5 · Location 101

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

When I’m afraid, I always ask myself, what’s the worst that can happen?” Chapter 5 · Page 41 · Location 733

It is the chiefest point of happiness, she scribbled quickly, before the Commander could see, that a man is willing to be what he is." Chapter 6 · Page 53 · Location 957