She'd wanted to run an inn. To welcome people, to mother them. They had no children of their own, and she had a powerful need to nurture. - Louise Penny

What did falling in love do for you? Can you ever really explain it? It filled empty spaces I never knew were empty. It cured a loneliness I never knew I had. It gave me joy. And freedom. I think that was the most amazing part. I suddenly felt both embraced and freed at the same time.

Before laptops and BlackBerries and all the other tools that mistook information for knowledge. It was an old library, filled with old books and dusty old thoughts.

"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.