Julia

“The sofa always reminded him of the Monty Python sketch when a man, about to be tortured in the Inquisition, was threatened with the “comfy chair.” Dear God, he thought, not the sofa. It was an unexpected, certainly unintended, torture, though Clara didn’t seem to see it. The springs had long since let go, so that you either hit the concrete floor or, worse, a spring. He hovered over it for a moment, then, like a cliff diver, he committed.”
― Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities

“Happiness as an act of defiance. A revolutionary act.”
― Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities

“This is what families do for each other—hide a few uncomfortable truths, allow a few self-deceptions. Little kindnesses.” “And little cruelties,” he said.”
― Anne Tyler, French Braid

“The loudly good are often not the best of people; the intuitively good, to whom it may not occur ever to discuss what they do, let alone why they do it, may be morally unsung, but are heroes nonetheless.”
― Alexander McCall Smith, A Promise of Ankles