The William Monk Mysteries Quotes

“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

“But easy victories pall after a while. If one always wins, perhaps one is attempting only what is well within one’s capabilities—and there lies a kind of death, don’t you think? That which does not grow may well be showing the first signs of atrophy.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“He remained silent because silence was the only space large enough to hold it without crushing or bruising the heart of it.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“What a waste of the essence of a man that he should never give enough of himself to any cause, that he should always hear that passive, cowardly voice uppermost which counts the cost and puts caution first. One would grow old and die with the power of one’s soul untasted.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“Remember, my dear, you are dealing with the world as it is, not as you believe, maybe rightly, that it ought to be. There will be a great many things you can achieve not by attacking them but with a little patience and a modicum of flattery. Stop to consider what it is you really want, rather than pursuing your anger or your vanity to charge in. So often we leap to passionate judgments—when if we but knew the one thing more, they would be so different.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“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

“wevver’s comin’ ter.” “What date in July?”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“treatment—presumably”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“kedgeree, smoked haddock, toast, butter, sweet”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray

“there was something extraordinarily sweet and comfortable about a friend who knows you and accepts you at your worst, your most bitter, or defeated, who sees your emotional ugliness naked and is not afraid to call it by name, and yet does not turn from you or allow you to cease to struggle, who wills your survival as precious.”
― Anne Perry, The William Monk Mysteries: The Face of a Stranger / A Dangerous Mourning / Defend and Betray