Quotes from A Trick of the Light

“Where other women ... were lovely, Annie Gamache was alive.
Late, too late, Jean Guy Beauvoir had come to appreciate how very important it was, how very attractive it was, how very rare it was, to be fully alive.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Despite himself, Beauvoir laughed. "There is strong shadow where there is much light."

...

But most he loved a happy human face.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“What people mistook for safety was in fact captivity.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“He knew time could heal. But it could also do more damage. A forest fire, spread over time, would consume everything.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Books were everywhere in their large apartment. Histories, biographies, novels, studies on Quebec antiques, poetry. Placed in orderly bookcases. Just about every table had at least one book on it, and oftern several magazines. And the weekend newspapers were scattered on the coffee table in the living room, in front of the fireplace. If a visitor was the observant type, and made it further into the apartment to Gamache's study, he might see the story the books in there told.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“She wasn’t afraid to be wrong. And that, the Chief knew, was a great strength.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Light is every bit as challenging as dark. We can discover a great deal about ourselves by looking at beauty.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“As far as the official mapmakers were concerned Three Pines didn’t exist. It had never been surveyed. Never plotted. No GPS or sat nav system, no matter how sophisticated, would ever find the little village. It only appeared as though by accident over the edge of the hill. Suddenly. It could not be found unless you were lost.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Hope offered, then denied. A particular cruelty.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Beauvoir was quiet, watching the Chief, taking in the gleam in his eye, the enthusiasm as he described what he'd found. Not the physical landscape, but the emotional. The intellectual.

Many might have thought the Chief Inspector was a hunter. He tracked down killers. But Jean Guy knew he wasn't that. Chief Inspector Gama he was an explorer by nature. He was never happier than when he was pushing the boundaries, exploring the internal terrain. Areas even the person themselves hadn't explored. Had never examined. Probably because it was too scary.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“It was one thing to forgive, it was another to climb back into the cage with that bear, even if it was wearing a tutu and smiling.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“relationship never starts with a fist to the face, or an insult. If it did there’d be no second date. It always starts gently. Kindly. The other person draws you in. To trust them. To need them. And then they slowly turn. Little by little, increasing the heat. Until you’re trapped.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“but if you were a nasty piece of work growing up, you’ll be an asshole as an adult and you’ll die pissed off.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Sobriety isn't for cowards, Chief Inspector. Whatever you might think of an alcoholic, to get sober, really sober demands great honesty, and that demands great courage. Stopping drinking's the easy part. Then we have to face ourselves. Our demons. How many people are willing to do that?”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“The Chief believed if you sift through evil, at the very bottom you’ll find good. He believed that evil has its limits. Beauvoir didn’t. He believed that if you sift through good, you’ll find evil. Without borders, without brakes, without limit.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Despite himself, Beauvoir laughed. “There is strong shadow where there is much light.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“You’re lying on your deathbed. You have one hour to live. Who is it, exactly, you have needed all these years to forgive?”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“And this was what a couple of that age looked like. If they were lucky.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Gamache had asked not because he didn’t know the answer, but because he wanted to see if Peter would lie to him. He had. And if he’d lie about that, what else had he lied about?”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“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, quote from A Trick of the Light

“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, quote from A Trick of the Light

“But Annie hates children.” “Well, she’s not very good with them, but I don’t think she hates them. She adores Florence and Zora.” “She has to,” said Beauvoir. “They’re family. She’s probably depending on them, in her old age. She’ll be bitter Auntie Annie, with the stale chocolates and the doorknob collection. And they’ll have to look after her. So she can’t drop them on their heads now.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Happy people didn’t drink themselves to sleep every night.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“You have one hour to live. Who is it, exactly, you have needed all these years to forgive?” Myrna”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“to Clara’s party? And why did she accept? ELEVEN “Honestly, you’re the worst investigator in history,” said Dominique. “At least I was asking questions,” snapped Ruth. “Only because I couldn’t get a word in.” Myrna and Clara had joined the other two women in the bistro and were now sitting in front of a fire, lit more for effect than necessity. “She asked André Castonguay how big his dick was.” “I did not. I asked how big a dick he was. There’s a difference.” Ruth brought up her thumb and forefinger to indicate about two inches. Despite herself, Clara smirked. She’d often wanted to ask gallery owners the same question.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Her voice changed slightly as she remembered, “But most he loved a happy human face.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Armand Gamache knew no good ever came from putting up walls. What people mistook for safety was in fact captivity. And few things thrived in captivity.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“Below that was the thrum of bumblebees climbing in and over and around the peonies. Getting lost. Bumbling around. It looked comical, ridiculous. But then so much did, unless you knew.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

“No, I don’t. I find them very superficial. Calculated. He’s a good artist, but I think he could be a great one, if he could use more instinct and less technique. He’s a very good draftsman.”
― Louise Penny, quote from A Trick of the Light

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Popular quotes

“What are you looking at?" Jordan demanded finally, watching
her.

"A dragon." When he looked bewildered she lifted her arm and pointed to the sky in the southeast. "Right there—that cloud—what do you see when you look at it?"

"A fat cloud."

Alexandra rolled her eyes at him. "What else do you see?"

He was quiet for a moment studying the sky. "Five more fat clouds
and three thin ones.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from Something Wonderful

“When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy.

The way I liked best was letting go a poisonous spider in his bed. It would bite him and he'd be dead and swollen up and I would shudder to find him so. Of course I would call the rescue squad and tell them to come quick something's the matter with my daddy. When they come in the house I'm all in a state of shock and just don't know how to act what with two colored boys heaving my dead daddy onto a roller cot. I just stand in the door and look like I'm shaking all over.

But I did not kill my daddy. He drank his own self to death the year after the County moved me out. I heard how they found him shut up in the house dead and everything. Next thing I know he's in the ground and the house is rented out to a family of four.

All I did was wish him dead real hard every now and then. All I can say for a fact that I am better off now than when he was alive.”
― Kaye Gibbons, quote from Ellen Foster

“I got back into my car and followed the trucks; at the end of the road, the Polizei unloaded the women and children, who rejoined the men arriving on foot. A number of Jews, as they walked, were singing religious songs; few tried to run away; the ones who did were soon stopped by the cordon or shot down. From the top, you could hear the gun bursts clearly, and the women especially were starting to panic. But there was nothing they could do. The condemned were divided into little groups and a noncom sitting at a table counted them; then our Askaris took them and led them over the brink of the ravine. After each volley, another group left, it went very quickly. I walked around the ravine by the west to join the other officers, who had taken up positions above the north slope. From there, the ravine stretched out in front of me: it must have been some fifty meters wide and maybe thirty meters deep, and went on for several kilometers; the little stream at the bottom ran into the Syrets, which gave its name to the neighborhood. Boards had been placed over this stream so the Jews and their shooters could cross easily; beyond, scattered pretty much everywhere on the bare sides of the ravine, the little white clusters were multiplying. The Ukrainian “packers” dragged their charges to these piles and forced them to lie down over them or next to them; the men from the firing squad then advanced and passed along the rows of people lying down almost naked, shooting each one with a submachine bullet in the neck; there were three firing squads in all. Between the executions some officers inspected the bodies and finished them off with a pistol. To one side, on a hill overlooking the scene, stood groups of officers from the SS and the Wehrmacht. Jeckeln was there with his entourage, flanked by Dr. Rasch; I also recognized some high-ranking officers of the Sixth Army. I saw Thomas, who noticed me but didn’t return my greeting. On the other side, the little groups tumbled down the flank of the ravine and joined the clusters of bodies that stretched farther and farther out. The cold was becoming biting, but some rum was being passed around, and I drank a little. Blobel emerged suddenly from a car on our side of the ravine, he must have driven around it; he was drinking from a little flask and shouting, complaining that things weren’t going fast enough. But the pace of the operations had been stepped up as much as possible. The shooters were relieved every hour, and those who weren’t shooting supplied them with rum and reloaded the clips. The officers weren’t talking much; some were trying to hide their distress. The Ortskommandantur had set up a field kitchen, and a military pastor was preparing some tea to warm up the Orpos and the members of the Sonderkommando. At lunchtime, the superior officers returned to the city, but the subalterns stayed to eat with the men. Since the executions had to continue without pause, the canteen had been set up farther down, in a hollow from which you couldn’t see the ravine. The Group was responsible for the food supplies; when the cases were broken open, the men, seeing rations of blood pudding, started raging and shouting violently. Häfner, who had just spent an hour administering deathshots, was yelling and throwing the open cans onto the ground: “What the hell is this shit?” Behind me, a Waffen-SS was noisily vomiting. I myself was livid, the sight of the pudding made my stomach turn. I went up to Hartl, the Group’s Verwaltungsführer, and asked him how he could have done that. But Hartl, standing there in his ridiculously wide riding breeches, remained indifferent. Then I shouted at him that it was a disgrace: “In this situation, we can do without such food!”
― Jonathan Littell, quote from The Kindly Ones

“He did not want her to know.
He did not want her to see.
But:
Look at me, he found himself thinking furiously at her. Look at me.
She lifted her eyes, and did.”
― Marie Rutkoski, quote from The Winner's Crime

“And we're such language-based creatures that to some extent we cannot know what we cannot name. And so we assume it isn't real. We refer to it with catch-all terms, like crazy or chronic pain, terms that both ostracise and minimise. The term chronic pain captures nothing of the grinding, constant, ceaseless, inescapable hurt. And the term crazy arrives at us with none of the terror and worry you live with.”
― John Green, quote from Turtles All the Way Down

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