Anne Perry > Quotes

“The men who cannot laugh at themselves frighten me even more than those who laugh at everything.”
― Anne Perry, The Whitechapel Conspiracy

“We all try to forget what hurts us, it is sometimes the only way we can continue.”
― Anne Perry

“Please don’t think so lightly of liking someone. It’s terribly important. It is a kind of loving, you know, and one that frequently lasts a lot longer than romance. You can fall out of love, as well in. Most of us do, especially if you don’t actually like the person as well. It doesn’t always grow into love by any means, but sometimes it does.”
― Anne Perry, Pentecost Alley

“Too many women waste their lives grieving because they do not have something other people tell them they should want. Whether you are happy or not depends to some degree upon outward circumstances, but mostly it depends how you choose to look at things yourself, whether you measure what you have or what you have not.”
― Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger

“Be aware that you can truly help people only by aiding them to become what they are, not what you are. I have heard you say 'If I were you, I would do this, or that.' 'I' am never 'you'--and my solutions may not be yours.”
― Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger

“The mountains are so beautiful they make me ache inside because the moment I look away I know I shall need to see them again. And I cannot spend the rest of my life standing on the spot staring at shifting sunlight and mist and shadows across the sea.”
― Anne Perry, A Breach of Promise

“Sometimes we bring to a struggle or cause the gifts we see most clearly, a courage, a strength, or a charm others have told us we have. But often we find more is asked of us than that, more than we intended or thought we possessed. We are asked to offer that which we thought dearest, to forgive what seemed unpardonable, to face what we feared the most and endure it. Sometimes we have to travel to the last step a path that was not of our own choosing. But I promise you this ... it will lead to a greater joy in the end. The difficulty is that the end is beyond our sight, it is a matter of faith, not of knowledge.”
― Anne Perry, A Christmas Visitor

“People only tell lies when the truth is disagreeable to them, or frightens them, or to cover sin.”
― Anne Perry, Tathea

“To take for granted one's blessings is a damage to the soul, and in time one will lose them, simply from lack of care. One should never tire of nourishing and treasuring all that is lovely.”
― Anne Perry, Tathea

“Whether you are happy or not depends to some degree upon outward circumstances, but mostly it depends how you choose to look at things yourself, whether you measure what you have or what you have not.”
― Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger

“Can one be both barbarian of the soul and sophisticated of the mind?”
― Anne Perry, The Sheen on the Silk

“Love is brave and generous and above all it springs from honor. In order to love someone else, you must first be true to yourself.

Love is not two people wanting or needing what the other can give.
--Hester Latterly”
― Anne Perry, Weighed in the Balance

“...perhaps great sins start as simple weakness, and the consistent placing of self before others.”
― Anne Perry, Execution Dock

“but old wounds don’t stop aching. They are always under the surface, ready to remind one of the original injuries.”
― Anne Perry, Treachery at Lancaster Gate

“It was not something you could call friendship; it was at once less and more. The sharing of such experiences created a bond and set them apart from all others. It was not something that could be told to another person. There were no words with a meaning both could understand which would impart the physical horror or the heights and depths of emotion.”
― Anne Perry, A Sudden, Fearful Death

“Disillusion in an ache that eats into the dreams of goodness, of love, of any value that matters - even to the very belief in life.”
― Anne Perry

“People lie to cover their mistakes, and then make even worse ones to cover their lies.”
― Anne Perry

“The very power of evil is that it is not recognizable to us most of the time. It is not repellent at all. It does not attack, it seduces.”
― Anne Perry

“corruption begets corruption.” He heard the bitterness he felt very clearly in his voice. “That’s what I hate about it most, the contagion of it. Men who could have been good become tainted, and the more of it there is the harder it is to survive without being touched by it. If you give people power, sooner or later they are tempted to abuse it. It takes a very strong man not to, a man wise enough to see its price, brave enough to go against the tide, and he can pay dearly for it.” Narraway”
― Anne Perry, Long Spoon Lane

“What’s always right?” “Kindness,” Pitt answered with certainty. “Keeping your promises. Not giving up just because it gets hard. Owning up to your mistakes, and not blaming other people even if you would get away with it.”
― Anne Perry, The Angel Court Affair

“God! I hate clever women!” She froze for an instant before the reply was on her lips. “I love clever men!” Her eyes raked him up and down. “It seems we are both to be disappointed.”
― Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger

“We need our marks, our small illusions; few of us can bear to go naked into the world's gaze. And people will kill to keep their clothes.”
― Anne Perry, Silence in Hanover Close

“In working with the wounded at Gallipoli, the lead character comments, “Perhaps life was the nightmare and death the awakening.”
― Anne Perry, Shoulder the Sky

“Friendship eased the heart and the mind, but there were times when the touch of arms around you healed an ache within that nothing else reached.”
― Anne Perry, Shoulder the Sky

“Before you pity yourself, take a great deal closer look at others, and then decide with who you would or could change places and what sacrifice of your nature you would be prepared to make in order to do so.”
― Anne Perry, The Face of a Stranger

“But the things that Christ taught are still true, of that I am absolutely certain. Meet me at the end of the world when we stand at the abyss...Honor is still worth living or dying for; no matter how tired or hurt or frightened you are, face forward and seek the light.”
― Anne Perry, Angels in the Gloom

“There were parts of Monk she admired greatly: his courage; his strength of will; his intelligence; his loyalty to his beliefs; his passion for justice; his ability to face almost any kind of truth, no matter how dreadful; and the fact that he was never, ever, a hypocrite.”
― Anne Perry, The Silent Cry

“Was a great enemy as much a part of a man’s life as a great friend? Surely it must be. It must be the cross thread in the fabric of emotions.”
― Anne Perry, The Cater Street Hangman

“When we are happy to turn from evil because it is ugly, and causes us distress, then we condone it and become party to its continuance. Little by little, we become as guilty of it as those who commit the act—because we have told them by our silence that it is acceptable.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“She understood very clearly why people go mad. Sometimes it is the only way to survive the unbearable when all other flight has been cut off. When the body cannot remove itself and emotions cannot be deadened, then the mind simply refuses to accept reality.”
― anne perry