"Despite himself, Beauvoir laughed. "There is strong shadow where there is much light." ... But most he loved a happy human face." - Louise Penny

Nature, she knew, abhorred a vacuum, and these people, faced with an information vacuum, had filled it with their fears.

She picked up her book and tried to read but it was heavy in her hands. She struggled to hold it, wanting to finish the story, wanting to know how it ended. She was afraid she'd run out of time before she ran out of book.

"I respect people who have such passion. Emile was saying. "I don't. I have a lot of interests, some I'm passionate about, but not to the exclusion of everything else. I sometimes wonder if that's necessary for geniuses to accomplish what they must, a singularity of purpose. We mere mortals just get in the way. Relationships are messy, distracting.

He travels the fastest who travels alone, quoted Gamache.

You sound as though you don't believe it.

It depends where you're going, but no, I don't. I think you might go far fast, but eventually you'll stall. We need other people.

...

We all need help.