Peaches For Father Francis Quotes
"In France alone, a quarter of a million letters are delivered every year to the dead."
"The dust makes little dervishes that skate and scour the sidewalks and leave little sparkling flakes of grit on your eyelids and your face."
"Like perfume in a bottle, however tight the seal, evaporating so slyly that, when you open it to look, all you find is a scented smear where once there was enough to spare."
"Fear has been my shadow ever since Anouk was born, but this summer the fear has grown, blooming monstrously in the heat."
"At her age I’d already travelled the world. My mother was dying. The word home meant any place we stayed for the night."
"The word home meant any place we stayed for the night."
"A warm and playful little wind that makes cats skittish, and races the clouds."
"Everything returns. The river brings everything back in the end."
"A letter from the dead. A letter inside a letter."
"I am in charge of my destiny. I call the wind. It answers to me."
"We were always like those dandelion seeds; settle for a season, then blow away."
"Anything new – even the opening of a shop – is seen as a break from the daily routine, a reason to stop and celebrate."
"Now I have come to understand them better – if not always to approve."
"It isn’t often you receive a letter from the dead."
"I find it too uncomfortable to deal with all the things that have changed."
"It’s hard enough keeping chocolate at the right temperature as it is."
"I am no longer the Vianne Rocher who blew into town eight years ago."
"I have learnt over the years that it’s better to bend a little than be broken."
"A war is coming, that is certain, and it smells like a storm about to break."
"The act of sending a message home made Roux seem all the more distant."
"Perhaps because the village itself is now divided between two worlds."
"Knowing that half the village thinks I was the one responsible."
"The White Autan brings dry heat; the Black Autan brings storms and rain."
"The Bishop feels that, nowadays, worship should be more about fun than austerity."
"Waiting for the insurance people could take months."
"Scratch off the paint, and what you find is the same, however far you go."
"I do not remember all I said; or even how much I said aloud."
"We must be tolerant of other beliefs, says Père Henri Lemaître."
"You can’t stay here, either. I’ll get your mother."
"I have a responsibility to the members of this community."
"To belong so often means to exclude; to think in terms of us and them."
"I see more; I see the heart, even the heart that is hidden."
"I give myself the penance of walking past it every day, in the hope of beating my cowardice."
"There’s always a price to pay for these things, and sometimes the price is much too high."
"I sensed the blast of hostility like invisible shrapnel."
"No one knows you’re here. No one will see you indoors. There are books; television; a radio. Is there anything else you need?"
"I think it would be better if we didn’t alter our plans too much. Otherwise it may look unusual."
"We’ll just sit here and watch daytime TV and sneer at all the reality shows."
"When you get tired of her, just tell her to leave you alone. OK?"
"I’m sure Estonia’s Top Model or Women Who Can’t Stop Eating Cake will be a marvellous education."
"That glimmer of a smile again, like the edge of a crescent moon."
"There’s something about Anouk that appeals to Alyssa."
"My little stranger has always been good at attracting followers."
"Whatever you’re running away from, I hope we can find a better solution than that."
"We can’t all be like Vianne Rocher, moving from place to place all the time, never belonging anywhere, never taking responsibility."
"Some people spend the whole of their lives sitting waiting for one train, only to find that they never even made it to the station."
"It takes something more to stay in one place."
"Life is magic, and it’s capable of anything."
"In a bag of walnuts, it’s the empty one that makes most noise."
"People like to have their own church, their own priest for confession."
"We’re just another village to him, another step up the ladder to Rome."
"In spite of all this, some people still speak to me."
"Your secret’s safe. I’m good at keeping secrets."
"The wind that travels light, the wind that goes wherever it wants to go."
"Sometimes people leave poison in their wake, even where they try to do good."
"To have no responsibility, no choices to make but where to sleep, what to eat, whether to turn right or left."
"The colours of the human heart. The colours of the soul."
"We all have our secrets. A whisper; a sign; a pinch of spice. The turn of a friendly card. A song."
"Life is too short and time too precious for foolish quarrels to intrude."
"I don’t think God cares what we wear, what we eat; I don’t think He cares who we choose to love."
"To follow rules without thinking, to do as we’re told, like children – I don’t think that idea comes from God."
"We can only be what we’re made to be, not what others expect, or hope."
"Sometimes, we make mistakes. But to follow rules without thinking, to do as we’re told, like children – I don’t think that idea comes from God."
"I found that the fear inside me belonged to me, and not to him, and only by letting it go could I be completely free."
"We should learn to control our own lives, write our own rules, and accept the consequences."
"The absence of teeth does not trouble her; she simply lets the chocolate melt."
"Food that has been made with love does have special properties."
"The tea was strong and fragrant. Zahra uses fresh mint, two generous fistfuls, brewed in an ornate silver pot."
"To sleep between clean linen sheets, my aching head on a pillow."
"If heaven is half as good as this, I’ll give up sin tomorrow."
"The night, too, was chilly; I stood up, ready to go indoors."
"A crime committed in Allah’s name does not cease to be a crime."
"You think God cares what you put in your mouth?"
"People don’t often change – but sometimes they grow, if you give them the chance."
"A congregation sounds different from a marketplace, a sporting event, a playground, a classroom—"
"The most frightening thing of all is perhaps how fast these things develop; the morphic resonance of hate, dragging us into its vortex."
"Something inside me has changed; something I am just beginning to explore."
"The scent is overwhelming; it rushes through me like the wind; it sweeps me off my feet like love—"
"In the end, you came with me because you knew she’d never leave—"