“Thank God for imminent doomsday.”
— Jim Butcher
“Now I feel like James Bond. Suave and intelligent, breaking all the codes while looking fabulous.”
— Jim Butcher
“I’m brilliant as well as skilled,” he said modestly. “It’s a great burden, all of that on top of my angelic good looks. But I try to soldier on as best I can.”
— Jim Butcher
“Doesn’t matter how pretty you are. What’s important is how pretty you feel. No one feels pretty when they hear “no” often enough.”
— Jim Butcher
“Empty night, Harry. Didn’t your little adventure in the lake teach you a damned thing?”I scowled some more. “Like what?””Like life is short,” he [Thomas] said. “Like you don’t know when it’s going to end. Like some things, left unsaid, can’t ever be said.”
— Jim Butcher
“Monsters are born of pain, and grief, and loss, and anger. Your heart is full of them.–“And?”And it makes you vulnerable.”
— Jim Butcher
“I’d gone with my usual option. I was running through long tunnels filled with demons and monsters and nightmares, because it was easier than going to the gym.”
— Jim Butcher
“Oh,” the girl said, shaking her head. “Don’t be so simple. People adore monsters. They fill their songs and stories with them. They define themselves in relation to them. You know what a monster is, young shade? Power. Power and choice. Monsters make choices. Monsters shape the world. Monsters force us to become stronger, smarter, better. They sift the weak from the strong and provide a forge for the steeling of souls. Even as we curse monsters, we admire them. Seek to become them, in some ways.” Her eyes became distant. “There are far, far worse things to be than a monster.”
— Jim Butcher
“Wizards and computers get along about as well as flamethrowers and libraries.”
— Jim Butcher
“Insecurity, thy name is teenager.”
— Jim Butcher
“A technicality I’m prepared to hide wildly behind.”
— Jim Butcher
“It isn’t about being fair and equal. It’s about the difference between right and wrong.” He stared out at the bloody Elinarch. “And this was wrong.”
— Jim Butcher
“That’s arrogance, Harry. ” he said, gently. “On a level so deep, you don’t even realize it exists. And do you know why it’s there?” “No?” I asked. He smiled again. “Because you have set a higher standard for yourself. You think that, because you have more power than others, you have to do more with it.” “To whom much is given, much is required,” I said, without looking up. He barked out a short laugh. “For someone who repeatedly tells me he has no faith, you have a surprising capacity to quote scripture. And that’s just my point.” I eyed him. “What?” “You wouldn’t be twisting yourself into knots like this, Harry, if you didn’t care.” “So?” “Monsters don’t care,” Michael said. “The damned don’t care, Harry. The only way to go beyond redemption is to choose to take yourself there. The only way to do it is to stop caring.”
— Jim Butcher
“…This is a place of learning where very few learn anything of value. That you, who have courage and intelligence, are held in contempt by most of your kind here because you have no sorcery… I have seen you protect others, though they consider you to be weaker than they. I have seen a very few decent people, like the boy we took from the tower. I have seen women trade pleasure for coin to feed their children, and others do the same so that they could ignore their children while making themselves foolish with wines and powders. I have seen men who labor as long as the sun is up go home to wives who hold them in contempt for never being there. I have seen men beat and use those whom they should protect, even their own children. I have seen your kind place others of their own in slavery. I have seen them fighting to be free of the same. I have seen men of the law betray it, men who hate the law be kind. I have seen gentle defenders, sadistic healers, creators of beauty scorned while craftsmen of destruction are worshiped. Your Kind, Aleran, are the most vicious and gentle, most savage and noble, most treacherous and loyal, most terrifying and fascinating creatures I have ever seen.”
— Jim Butcher
“Death is only frightening from the near side.”
— Jim Butcher
“Children run everywhere for a reason–it’s fun. Grown-ups can forget that sometimes.”
— Jim Butcher
“Journeyman stared at Grimm as though Grimm had just suggested that the engineer should prostitute his mother to pirates.”
— Jim Butcher
“Everything was perfectly healthy and normal here in Denial Land.”
— Jim Butcher
“You’re dead, son. Cheer is contraindicated.”
— Jim Butcher
“Fighting is never good. But sometimes necessary.”
— Jim Butcher
“Do you know what I think?” Marcone said.”You think we should shoot Nicodemus in the back at the first opportunity and let Michael dismember him.””Yes.”I drew my gun. “Okay.”
— Jim Butcher
“I like to think of it less as embezzling and more as an involuntary goodwill contribution.”
— Jim Butcher
“I mean it,” I said. “You’re in danger.””Relax, Harry. I’m not letting anyone lick me, and I’m not looking anyone in the eyes. It’s kind of like visiting New York.”
— Jim Butcher
“Hell’s bells, Susan, you don’t know what you’ve done. You’ve got to get outof here.”She snorted. “Like hell.””I mean it,” I said. “You’re in danger.””Relax, Harry. I’m not letting anyone lick me, and I’m not looking anyone in the eyes. It’s kind of like visiting New York.”
— Jim Butcher
“Those who deal in magic learn to see the world in a slightly differnt light than everybody else.you gain a perspective you had considered before. A way of thinking that would never have occurred to you with out exposure to the things a wizard sees and hears.When you look in to some ones eyes you see them in that other light and for just a second they see you in the same way.”
— Jim Butcher
“Think of every fairy-tale villainess you’ve ever heard of. Think of the wicked witches, the evil queens, the mad enchantresses. Think of the alluring sirens, the hungry ogresses, the savage she-beasts. Think of them and remember that somewhere, sometime, they’ve all been real.”
— Jim Butcher
“Think of every fairy-tale villainess you’ve ever heard of. Think of the wicked witches, the evil queens, the mad enchantresses. Think of the alluring sirens, the hungry ogresses, the savage she-beasts. Think of them and remember that somewhere, sometime, they’ve all been”
— Jim Butcher
“Tropical trees had been planted throughout the room, along with bright flowering plants that were busy committing the olfactory floral equivalent of aggravated assault.”
— Jim Butcher
“People always equate beauty with good, but it just ain’t so.”
— Jim Butcher
“You already beat yourself up for enough things that aren’t your fault. People who care don’t want to add to that.” He paused, and then added gently, “But you assumed it was about you.” I finished the beer and sighed. “Arrogance,” I said.”I feel stupid.” “Good,” Michael said. “It’s good for everyone to feel that way sometimes. It helps remind you how much you still have to learn.”
— Jim Butcher