All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #16)

by Louise Penny

Monsieur Horowitz paused at the mosaic in the tile floor by the entrance to the Hôtel Lutetia. It was the symbol of the hotel, and also the ancient symbol of Paris. The city had originally been called Lutetia. And her emblem was a ship in peril on a stormy sea. That symbol was imbedded in the hotel floor. Monsieur Horowitz had turned to young Jacques and said, “Fluctuat nec mergitur.” Every schoolchild in Paris learned those words. It was the motto of the ancient settlement of Lutetia. And of Paris.

Fluctuat nec mergitur?” “What does it mean?” Jean-Guy asked. “‘Beaten by the waves,’” said the maître d’. “‘But never sinks.’”