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The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3) QUOTES

The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3) QUOTES

1 " She knew that kindness kills. All her life she'd suspected this and so she'd only ever been cold and cruel. She'd faced kindness with cutting remarks. She'd curled her lips at smiling faces. She'd twisted every thoughtful, considerate act into an assault. Everyone who was nice to her, who was compassionate and loving, she rebuffed.

Because she'd loved them. Loved them with all her heart, and wouldn't see them hurt. Because she'd known all her life that the surest way to hurt someone, to maim and cripple them, was to be kind. If people were exposed, they die. Best to teach them to be armored, even if it meant she herself was forever alone. Sealed off from human touch. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

2 " Houses are like people, Agent Lemieux. They have secrets. I'll tell you something I've learned.'

Armand Gamache dropped his voice so that Agent Lemieux had to strain to hear.

'Do you know what makes us sick, Agent Lemieux?'

Lemieux shook his head. Then out of the darkness and stillness he heard the answer.

'It's our secrets that make us sick. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

3 " Gamache knew people were like homes. Some were cheerful and bright, some gloomy. Some could look good on the outside but feel wretched on the interior. And some of the least attractive homes, from the outside, were kindly and warm inside.

He also knew the first few rooms were for public consumption. It was only in going deeper that he'd find the reality. And finally, inevitably, there was the last room, the one we keep locked, and bolted and barred, even from ourselves. Especially from ourselves. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

4 " It takes years for the moth to evolve from an egg into an adult," he said. "In its final stage the caterpillar spins a cocoon and then it dissolves completely until it's just liquid, then it transforms. It becomes something else entirely. A huge emperor moth. But it's not that easy. Before it can live as a moth it has to fight it's way out of the cocoon. Not all make it."
"They would if I was there," said Ruth, taking another gulp.
Gabriel was uncharacteristically silent.
"What? What is it?" demanded Ruth.
"They need to fight their way out of the cocoon. It builds their wings and muscles. It's the struggle that saves them. Without it they're crippled. If you help an emperor moth, you kill it. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

5 " Love wants the best for others. Attachment takes hostages. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

6 " Loss was like that, Gamache knew. You didn’t just lose a loved one. You lost your heart, your memories, your laughter, your brain and it even took your bones. Eventually it all came back, but different. Rearranged. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

7 " The terror of falling asleep knowing that on waking she’d relive the loss, like Prometheus bound and tormented each day. Everything had changed. Even her grammar. Suddenly she lived in the past tense. And the singular. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

8 " There are four statements that lead to wisdom. I want you to remember them and follow them. Are you ready?’ Agent Lemieux had taken out his notebook and, pen poised, he’d listened. ‘You need to learn to say: I don’t know. I’m sorry. I need help and I was wrong. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

9 " All will be as it should, if we just do our best. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

10 " Some mothers see their job as preparing their kids to live in the big old world. To be independent, to marry and have children of their own. To live wherever they choose and do what makes them happy. That’s love. Others, and we all see them, cling to their children. Move to the same city, the same neighborhood. Live through them. Stifle them. Manipulate, use guilt-trips, cripple them.’ ‘Cripple them? How?’ ‘By not teaching them to be independent. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

11 " Attachment masquerades as Love, Pity as Compassion and Indifference as Equanimity. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

12 " The near enemy. It’s a psychological concept. Two emotions that look the same but are actually opposites. The one parades as the other, is mistaken for the other, but one is healthy and the other’s sick, twisted. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

13 " And fear. High school smelled of that more than anything else, even more than sweaty feet, cheap perfume and rotten bananas. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

14 " You didn’t just lose a loved one. You lost your heart, your memories, your laughter, your brain and it even took your bones. Eventually it all came back, but different. Rearranged. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

15 " Fear might stop some people from committing murder, but he knew for certain fear was what drove most people to kill. It was what nested below all the other emotions. It was what twisted and turned the other emotions into something sick. It was an alchemist and could turn daylight into night, joy into despair. Fear, once taken root, blocked the sun. And Gamache knew what grew in that darkness. He searched for it every day. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

16 " Everything he let go of had claw marks on it. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

17 " in Beauvoir’s experience losers were the most dangerous people. Because eventually they got to the stage where they had nothing more to lose. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

18 " When I miss things or let them pass they gather in a heap then rise up and take a life. So, I try not to. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

19 " Having a friend, Chief Inspector. All you need is one. Makes all the difference. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)

20 " He listened to people, took notes, gathered evidence, like all his colleagues. But he did one more thing. He gathered feelings. He collected emotions. Because murder was deeply human. "

― Louise Penny , The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)