Jim Butcher Quotes

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“There was a sound like a human yawn, and then the skull turned slightly toward me and asked, "What's up, boss?"

"Evil's afoot."

"Well, sure," Bob said, "because it refuses to learn the metric system. Otherwise it'd be up to a meter by now.”

“My magic. That was at the heart of me. It was a manifestation of what I believed, what I lived. It came from my desire to see to it that someone stood between the darkness and the people it would devour.”

“Vanity, thy name is vampire.”

“Alone. It's one of those small words that means entirely too much. Like fear. Or trust.”

“Black Court vampires. I just shortened it some."

Ebenezar tsked. "Blampires. That's the problem with you young people. Shortening all the words.”

“Harry," she said quietly, "I know you must be angry."

I burn things to ash and smash holes in buildings when I'm angry," I said. "I'm a couple of steps past that point right now.”

“We've both got into the blue beetle. He got into the red door, I got into the white one.”

“I've always admired your ability to be unilaterally irritating.”

“I've always felt that the best whips and chains are in the mind. With a little creativity, the physical ones are hardly necessary.”

“Let's sum up: an unknown number of enemies with unknown capabilities, supported by a gang of madmen, packs of attack animals, and superhumanly intelligent pocket change.”

“Molly was arrested. Possession.”
I blinked at him. “She was possessed?”

“There is the world that should be and the world that is. We live in one and must create the other.”

“The wacky thing about those bad guys is that you can't count on them to be obvious. They forget to wax their mustaches and goatees, leave their horns at home, send their black hats to the dry cleaner's. They're funny like that.”

“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.”

“I wouldn't burden any decent system of faith by participating in it… I'm not agnostic. Just nonpartisan. Theological Switzerland, that's me.”

“Rule number one of the wizarding business. Never let them see you sweat. People expect us to know things. It can be a big advantage. Don’t screw it up by looking like you’re as confused as everyone else. Bad for the image.”

“There's always, always a choice. My options might really, truly suck, but that doesn't mean there isn't a choice.”

“But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil, damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness . . .. . . which could obviously be redeemed only by passing through the fiery, cleansing inferno of a wizardly digestive tract.”

“I'd been in hairier situations than this one. Actually, it's sort of depressing, thinking how many times I'd been in them. But if experience had taught me anything, it was this: No matter how screwed up things are, they can get a whole lot worse.”

“When you do something stupid and die, it's pathetic,” I said. “When you do something stupid and survive it, then you get to call it impressive or heroic.”

“Honey, I liked the Harry Potter movies, too, but that doesn’t mean I ran out and got a Dark Mark tattooed onto my left forearm like you did.”

“My gast was pretty well flabbered.”

“I mean, we're all going to die. We know that on an intellectual level. We figure it out when we're still fairly young, and it scares us so badly that we convince ourselves we're immortal for more than a decade afterwards.”

“Karrin, eh?" Thomas asked.

I nodded. "She's real serious about order. A man dying, she can understand. A man coming back. That's different."

"Isn't she Catholic?" Thomas asked. "Don't they have a guy?”

“Bring it, Darth Bathrobe!”

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of trauma, I will fear no concussion.”

“Thwart," I said. "To prevent someone from accomplishing something by means of visiting gratuitous violence upon his smarmy person."

"I'm pretty sure that isn't the definition." Sarissa said.

"It is today.”

“Hell’s bells. I don’t call him the Fist of God as a pet name, folks.”

“God save me from idealists.”

“You," Madeline said, her voice hollow and wheezing, "are like a bad case of herpes, wizard. You're inconvenient, embarassing, no real threat, and you simplygo away.”

“Michael Carpenter My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps.”

“HARRY DRESDEN—WIZARD Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment”

“Chocolate fends off all kinds of nasty stuff. And if you get hungry while warding off evil, you have a snack. It's multipurpose equipment.”

“Sometimes it isn't easy to be sane, smart, and responsible. Sometimes it sucks. Sucks wang. Camel wang. But that doesn't turn wrong into right or stupid into smart.”

“If you go to your death rather than do everything you might to prevent what is happening, you are merely committing suicide and trying to make yourself feel better about it. That is the act of a coward. It is beneath contempt.”

“I stared up at the Erlking, and with my typical pithy brilliance said, "Uh-oh.”

“Night wasn't so much falling as sharpening its claws.”

“Because a sound tree doesn't have bad roots, Amara. No enterprise of greatness
begins with treachery, with lying to the people who trust and love you”

“There are some people who will never understand what
loyalty means. They could tell you what it was, of course,
but they will never know. They will never see it from the inside.
They couldn't imagine a world where something like that was real.”

“Life is too short, Harry. And there's nowhere near enough joy in it. If you find it, grab it. Before it's gone.”

“So?" Bob said. "Hat up, go kill her. Problem solved."
"Bob," I said. "You can't just go around killing people."
"I know. That's why you should do it."
"No, no. I can't go around killing people, either.”

“Now I feel like James Bond. Suave and intelligent, breaking all the codes while looking fabulous.”

“You’re playing the creepy vibe a little hard,” I said. “Might as well go for broke, put on a black top hat and pipe in some organ music.”

“Its amazing waht you can get used to if your daily allowance of bizarre is high enough.'…… Harry Dresden”

“Don'tthe Lord, Harry. It's disrespectful.”

“Just remember that you're on my list, Marcone. Soon as I get done with all the other evils in this town, you won't be the lesser of them anymore."

Marcone stared at me with half-lidded eyes and said, "Eek.”

“I may have had good reasons. I may have had the best of intentions.
But intentions aren’t enough, no matter how good they are. Intentions can lead you to a place where you’re able to make a choice.
It’s the choice that counts.”

“Maybe the Merlin was right. Maybe its better to look stupid but strong, than it is to look smart but weak, I don't know. I'm not sure I want to believe that the world stage bears that strong a resemblance to high school.”

“For the sake of one soul. For one loved one. For one life." I called power into my blasting rod, and its tip glowed incandescent white. "The way I see it, there's nothing else worth fighting a war for.”