When someone stabs you it's not your fault that you feel pain. Louise Penny More Quotes by Louise Penny More Quotes From Louise Penny Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person’s bookcase and their grocery cart, she’d pretty much know who they were. Louise Penny happy-hour looking-good looks The four sayings that lead to wisdom: I was wrong I'm sorry I don't know I need help Louise Penny four sorry needs Fear lives in the head. And courage lives in the heart. The job is to get from one to the other. Louise Penny heart jobs No good ever comes from putting up walls. What people mistake for safety is in fact captivity. And few things thrive in captivity. Louise Penny wall mistake people Life is change. If you aren't growing and evolving, you're standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead. Louise Penny growing life world The night is a strawberry. Louise Penny strawberries night After spending most of her life scanning the horizon for slights and threats, genuine and imagined, she knew the real threat to her happiness came not from the dot in the distance, but from looking for it. Expecting it. Waiting for it. And in some cases, creating it. Her father had jokingly accused her of living in the wreckage of her future. Until one day she'd looked deep into his eyes and saw he wasn't joking. He was warning her. Louise Penny distance life father 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. Louise Penny Life is choice. All day, everyday. Who we talk to, where we sit, what we say, how we say it. And our lives become defined by our choices. It's as simple and as complex as that. And as powerful. so when I'm observing that's what I'm watching for. The choices people make Louise Penny powerful simple people But you want murderous feelings? Hang around librarians," confided Gamache. "All that silence. Gives them ideas. Louise Penny silence giving ideas Better to accept the wretched truth than struggle, twisting to make a wish a reality. Louise Penny struggle wish reality What are you afraid of? I'm afraid of not recognizing Paradise. Louise Penny recognizing paradise Every year the hunters shot cows and horses and family pets and each other. And unbelievably, they sometimes shot themselves, perhaps in a psychotic episode where they mistook themselves for dinner Louise Penny horse pet years The leaves had fallen from the trees and lay crisp and crackling beneath his feet. Picking one up he marveled, not for the first time, at the perfection of nature where leaves were most beautiful at the very end of their lives. Louise Penny perfection feet beautiful To be silent. In hopes of not offending, in hopes of being accepted. But what happened to people who never spoke, never raised their voices? Kept everything inside? Gamache knew what happened. Everything they swallowed, every word, thought, feeling rattled around inside, hollowing the person out. And into that chasm they stuffed their words, their rage. Louise Penny offending voice people Her voice was slightly accented but her French was perfect. Someone who'd not just learned the language but loved it. And it showed with every syllable. Gamache knew it was impossible to split language from culture. That without one the other withered. To love the language was to respect the culture. Louise Penny voice perfect love I'm just like this. I have no talent for choosing my battles. Life seems, strangely, like a battle to me. The whole thing. Louise Penny talent battle whole Every decade of my life I attempted to write a novel. But I had nothing to say. I was far too self-absorbed, and now I realize I was writing for others, so that they'd applaud me, see my genius, tell me how wonderful I am, or be jealous of my success. Louise Penny jealous self writing Now here's a good one: 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 forgiving lying years Don't mistake dramatics for a conscience. Louise Penny conscience mistake