Vicki

“Brilliant.” Gamache gave her a hug. “Brought tears to my eyes,” said Gabri. “It would have been better except Number Five there kept hogging the stage,” whispered Reine-Marie, leaning over, pointing at a beaming little boy. “Shall I kick him?” asked Gamache. “Better wait till no one’s looking,” advised his wife.”
― Louise Penny, A Rule Against Murder

“Most of us are brought down by a bunch of tiny transgressions. Little things that add up until we collapse under them. It’s fairly easy to avoid doing the big bad things, but it’s the hundred mean little things that’ll get you eventually. If you listen to people long enough you realize it’s not the slap or the punch, but the whispered gossip, the dismissive look. The turned back. That’s what people with any conscience are ashamed of.”
― Louise Penny, A Trick of the Light

“had known that when her time came God wouldn’t ask how many committees she’d sat on, or how much money she’d made, or what prizes she’d won. No. He’d ask how many fellow creatures she’d helped.”
― Louise Penny, Still Life

“Corruption and brutality are modeled and expected and rewarded. It becomes normal. And anyone who stands up to it, who tells them it’s wrong, is beaten down.”
― Louise Penny, How the Light Gets In