How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel.

Better to accept the wretched truth than struggle, twisting to make a wish a reality.

I turned down all the requests for the rights to the books, for years, mostly because they wanted the rights to the characters, and to turn it into a TV series. This would have allowed them to do anything they wanted with the characters, and that just wasn't an option for me.

The question that haunted every investigation was 'why'.

In winter the very ground seemed to reach up and grab the elderly, yanking them to earth as though hungry for them.

I've seen enough successful writers who no longer seem to care when they are recognized with an award, and I think that's just tragic.

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.