A Trick of the Light Quotes

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

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

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

“I saw it with my clients who’d been abused either physically or emotionally. The 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, 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, 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, A Trick of the Light

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

“Most of us are brought down by a bunch of tiny transgressions. Little things that add up until we collapse under them. It’s fairly easy to avoid doing the big bad things, but it’s the hundred mean little things that’ll get you eventually. If you listen to people long enough you realize it’s not the slap or the punch, but the whispered gossip, the dismissive look. The turned back. That’s what people with any conscience are ashamed of. That’s what they drink to forget.”
― Louise Penny, A Trick of the Light

“It’s an anonymous village,” said Gamache. “Not on any map. You have to find your own way here.”
― Louise Penny, A Trick of the Light

“She sounds like an emotional vampire,” said Myrna, at last. “A what?” “I ran into quite a few in my practice. People who sucked others dry. We all know them. We’re in their company and come away drained, for no apparent reason.”
― Louise Penny, 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, 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, A Trick of the Light

“We long to find home. After years and years of making war on everyone around us, on ourselves, we just want peace.’ ‘And”
― Louise Penny, A Trick of the Light

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

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