The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5)

by Louise Penny

Many native tribes believed evil lived in corners, which was why their traditional homes were rounded. Unlike the square homes the government had given them.

The rest of the world saw a strong, noble lioness. He looked at his daughter and saw Bert Lahr, though he’d never tell her that.

He’d once heard a judge say the most humane way to execute a prisoner was to tell him he was free. Then kill him.

In Beauvoir’s experience Darwin was way wrong. The fittest didn’t survive. They were killed by the idiocy of their neighbors, who continued to bumble along oblivious.

She knew something powerful, something most people never learned. That people made their own fortune. It made her formidable.

It was the silence that got to him first, and then the touch. Nothing touched him. No breeze brushed his rocky surface. No ant crawled over him, no bird touched down. No worm tunneled. He felt nothing.

“Yes, it’s commonly called paraffin wax. It’s an old-fashioned material, as you probably know. Used to be used for candles, then it was replaced by other sorts of more stable wax.” “My mother uses it for pickling,” said Beauvoir. “She melts it on the top of the jar to create a seal, right?” “That’s right,” said Dr. Harris. Gamache turned to Beauvoir. “And where was your mother on Saturday night?” Beauvoir laughed. “The only one she ever threatens to brain is me. She’s no threat to society at large.”

What a wonderful epitaph, thought Gamache. He cared for himself.

Funny how imperfections on the outside mean something splendid beneath.”

“Most unhappiness comes from not being able to sit quietly in a room.”

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.

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.”