There is no one who cannot be hated, against whatever odds. Nor anyone who cannot be loved, against all reason.

Brother Cadfael knew better than to be in a hurry, where souls were concerned. There was plenty of elbow-room in eternity.

In the end there is nothing to be done but to state clearly what has been done, without shame or regret, and say: Here I am, and this is what I am. Now deal with me as you see fit. That is your right. Mine is to stand by the act, and pay the price. You do what you must do, and pay for it. So in the end all things are simple.

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.

Youth is no less vulnerable, by the very quality it has of making the heart ache that beholds and has lost it.

They sell courage of a sort in the taverns. And another sort, though not for sale, a man can find in the confessional. Try the alehouses and the churches, Hugh. In either a man can be quiet and think.

Truth is a hard master, and costly to serve, but it simplifies all problems.