“Only the weak blame their past for the faults they find in their present; the strong acknowledge the effects of their past and then move on from it. We are all free to choose whether we will be weak or strong.”

“But there was no hiding from Conscience. Not in new homes and new cars. In travel. In meditation or frantic activity. In children, in good works. On tiptoes or bended knee. In a big career. Or a small cabin. It would find you. The past always did. Which was why... it was vital to be aware of actions in the present. Because the present became the past, and the past grew. And got up, and followed you. And found you... Who wouldn't be afraid of this?”

“I grew up around strong women; weak men were pickled and salted. The women wouldn't waste time raising a weak boy.”

“The men in my family are strong because the women in my family kill and eat the weak ones.”

“Gamache watched the old poet. He knew what was looming behind the Mountain. What crushed all before it. The thing the Hermit most feared. The Mountain most feared.Conscience....Which is why, Gamache knew, it was vital to be aware of actions in the present. Because the present became the past, and the past grew. And got up, and followed you.And found you ...Who wouldn't be afraid of this?”

“We choose our thoughts. We choose our perceptions. We choose our attitudes.......And our lives become defined by our choices. - chief inspector Armand Gamache in Still Life”

“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”