Ellis Peters

When harried, we go as far as we dare, and with those we're sure of we dare go very far, knowing where forgiveness is certain.

It's a kind of arrogance to be so certain you're past redemption.

Well, you can fairly claim the day hasn't been wasted,' owned Cadfael generously, 'if something's been learned.

He prayed as he breathed, forming no words and making no specific requests, only holding his heart, like broken birds in cupped hands,

Perhaps thought really is prayer.

Well, a man can but hold fast to what he believes right, and even the opponent he baulks should value him for that.

Once, I remember, Father Abbot said that our purpose is justice, and with God lies the privilege of mercy. But even God, when he intends mercy, needs tools to his hand.

I think there are some who live on a knife-edge in the soul, and at times are driven to hurl themselves into the air, at the mercy of heaven or he'll which way to fall.

God, nevertheless, required a little help from men, and what he mostly got was hindrance.

The trouble with me, he thought unhappily, is that I have been about the world long enough to know that God's plans for us, however infallibly good, may not take the form we expect and demand.

So, wonder! I also wonder about you," said Cadfael mildly. "Do you know any human creatures who are not strangers, one to another?

They sell courage of a sort in the taverns. And another sort, though not for sale, a man can find in the confessional. Try the alehouses and the churches, Hugh. In either a man can be quiet and think.

Bitter though it may be to many, Cadfael concluded, there is no substitute for truth, in this or any case.

Truth is a hard master, and costly to serve, but it simplifies all problems.

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment!

There's an art in every labour.

Don't reach for the halo too soon. You have plenty of time to enjoy yourself, even a little maliciously sometimes, before you settle down to being a saint.

What are wits for unless a man uses them?