Glass Houses Quotes
"Sitting uncomfortably on the hard chair, under oath, Armand Gamache admitted to himself that while he believed in the law, had spent his career working within the justice system, what he really had to answer to was his conscience."
"It was very hard to stop Death, once that Horseman had left the stables."
"No man is as bad as the worst thing he’s done."
"It’s not my time. Not even close. He likes my company because I’m not afraid."
"Things are getting worse," he’d said. "Far worse."
"It wasn’t useful to tell everyone that there was no threat. Because he didn’t know if that was true."
"I felt angry, that the peace of our little village was being violated. Our lives disrupted."
"The thing is," he said, "it’s very effective. The people almost always pay up, and quickly."
"It feels like vigilante action," he said. "Taking justice into their own hands. Condemning someone."
"The same dozen or so people," Myrna continued, "but in different relationships. In this life you might be partners, but in another life you were brothers, or husband and wife, or father and son."
"We change roles, but what stays the same is the love," said Myrna. "That is absolute and infinite."
"Through the ages. Through the lifetimes. Every other relationship might change, flow, morph into another guise, but his relationship with Reine-Marie was absolute and eternal."
"And wondered, if love followed them through lifetimes, did hate also follow?"
"The judgment had already been passed. A collector. There to collect."
"That’s what I thought too," said Jean-Guy, turning to him. "But no. They went looking for the people who banished them. Damned them. Mostly priests, senior church officials. Magistrates. Even princes. But incredibly, when they found them, they did nothing. Just followed them. Which, of course, turned out to be quite something."
"Did you know then," the Crown asked, "who it was looking at?"
"The priests and authorities couldn’t allow this to continue," said Beauvoir. "They figured out who these people were, and where they came from. Soldiers were sent to La Isla del Cobrador, and every man, woman and child was slaughtered."
"Some of those who were strong enough returned to the mainland," said Jean-Guy. "But they were disfigured by disease, so they wore masks and gloves. And long cloaks with hoods."
"Isn’t there something you can do?" asked Jean-Guy, his voice hushed.
"Non, I mean I’m sorry about what I’m about to do. I’m going to have to ask you not to wash."
"But that passed. And she knew, she was any other witness. And he was a cop."
"I understand," she said. And she did. "But hurry."
"No, I need to call Clara and Myrna. Hurry, Armand."
"Madame Gamache is fine," he said. "She’s safe. No harm will come to her."
"It was. And you’re right, Madame Gamache is extraordinary. She had to see if she could help."
"What makes someone kill isn’t opportunity, it’s emotions."
"This was what he’d brought into their marriage. Blood ran through their lives together. Like a river that sometimes broke its banks. Marring them. Staining them."
"Merci," said Gamache, taking the napkin. He carefully refolded and replaced it in his pocket.
"You can’t be the one who decides," she said, sitting up straighter and looking at him. "You’re the head of the Sûreté. You have to follow the law, even if it’s uncomfortable."
"The old poet seemed to miss the obvious but catch the imperceptible."
"Here was a man with a book, not a weapon, and no need to prove his bravery. Or descend into savagery."
"It became okay to stop the swaggering, to cease the bullying that was excused as an appropriate way to treat the populace."
"But sometimes Chief Superintendent Gamache could be seen in the hallways, or an elevator, or the cafeteria, alone."
"Their GPS had warned them they were literally in the middle of nowhere and the woman’s voice had advised them, in tones their mothers once used, to recalculate."
"The actual act of terror created horror, pain, sorrow, rage, revenge. But the terror itself came from wondering what was going to happen next."
"Terrorists fed off threats more than actual acts. Their weapon of choice was fear."
"It’s a terrible thing, to take another life. And somehow, it seems even worse to do it in a church."
"Chief Superintendent Gamache had perjured himself."
"It was an ordinary moment on any crowded street."
"Isabelle felt the blood run cold in her veins."
"Busy commuters, heads down looking at their devices, flowed around it."
"It was the dread most investigators carried. To make a mistake, and set a predator free among the prey."
"Facing the monster. And recognizing it. Knowing that it was not a vile few. It wasn’t 'them.' It was us."
"He’d written about the horror to come. About the consequences of what he was considering."
"A good hunter, Gamache knew, learned from his prey."
"They were just getting me upset. Making me doubt myself."
"But neither could he leave without saying what needed to be said."
"Corruption starts small, often justifiable. A white lie. A minor law violated for the greater good."
"It wasn’t really, he knew, about less fear. It was about more courage."
"Justice, she thought. A few months ago she knew exactly what that meant. Now she wasn’t so sure."
"The fact the others had done it to amass fortunes, and Gamache had done it to bring the drug trade to its knees, did not really matter."
"Sometimes people stumbled onto things by accident. Like those who found Three Pines."
"What poured across it now was a lot more powerful, and more lucrative, than booze."
"It was like playing with a jack-in-the-box. It looked like a normal box, until the crazy person popped out."
"All murder scenes had a solemnity, a gravity, about them, often at odds with the actual surroundings."
"You can be seen with a gun," said Gamache, as he locked it and put the key in the pocket of his slacks. "I can’t."
"All his focus now was on the nearest bodyguard, who was just turning, just noticing what Gamache was doing. A look of surprise just coming onto his face."
"All around him there was youth and freedom, sex and love."
"Their entire operation depended on catching them with their hands dirty."
"Their conversation, if that’s what it could be called, continued as Gamache looked into his study."
"But there were no people. No dogs. Not cats. Not even birds."
"You have to help Armand," Madame Gamache broke the silence.
"The goal had not changed. To win the war, they had to do one thing. Get the leaders."
"It was a standoff. Until one of the younger members panicked. And then it was bedlam."
"You played me for a fool. No. I realized I’d been wrong about you, and that you’re not a coward."
"There are lines, That cannot be crossed. And once crossed, there’s no going back."
"She was not alone. You are loved. Your children love you. Your husband and parents love you…"