Quotes from Death Masks

Jim Butcher ·  432 pages

Rating: (96.1K votes)


“So. You get handed a holy sword by an archangel, told to go fight the forces of evil, and you somehow remain an atheist. Is that what you're saying?”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Life would be unbearably dull if we had answers to all our questions.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“There are things you can't walk away from. Not if you want to live with yourself afterward.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“It isn't good to hold on too hard to the past. You can't spend your whole life looking back. Not even when you can't see what lies ahead. All you can do is keep on keeping on, and try to believe that tomorrow will be what it should be—even if it isn't what you expected.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“How long have you been a Wiccan?'
'A what?'
'A pagan. A witch.'
'I'm not a witch,' I said, glancing out the door. 'I'm a wizard.'
Sanya frowned. 'What is the difference?'
'Wizard has a Z'
He looked at me blankly.
'No one appreciates me.' I muttered.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks



“It came charging toward me, several hundred pounds of angry-looking monster, and I did the only thing any reasonable wizard could have done.
I turned around and ran like hell.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Sullen monosyllabism, a sure sign of sleep deprivation.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I'm dealing with a lot of scary things. I think you have to react to them. And you either laugh at them or you go insane.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“...The next time I opened my eyes, I was in the morgue.
This, all by itself, is enough to really ruin your day.
I was lying on the examining table, and Butters, complete with his surgical gown and his tray of autopsy instruments, stood over me.
'I'm not dead!' I sputtered. 'I'm not dead!'
- Harry Dresden, Death Masks, Jim Butcher”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks



“Mister Dresden," he said. "And Miss Rodriguez, I believe. I didn't realize you were an art collector."
"I am the foremost collector of velvet Elvii in the city of Chicago," I said at once.
"Elvii?" Marcone inquired.
"The plural could be Elvises, I guess," I said. "But if I say that too often, I start muttering to myself and calling things 'my precious,' so I usually go with the Latin plural.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I am blind and limited. I would be a fool think myself wise. And so, not knowing what the universe means, I can only try to be responsible with the knowledge, the strength, and the time given to me. I must be true to my heart.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I put the ick in magic.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Apocalypse is a frame of mind." [Nicodemus] said then. "A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is a despair for the future. It is the death of hope.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Do you really think you can win?'
'Yeah. Hell, Ortega is only the third or fourth most disturbing thing I've tangled with today.'
'But even if you do win, what does it change?'
'Me getting kiilled now. That way, I get to be killed later tonight instead.'
- Susan Rodriguez & Harry Dresden, Death Masks, Jim Butcher”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks



“I had a vague memory of being that ridiculous at one time. Let he who hath never worn parachute pants cast the first stone.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“He wasn't evil as much as magnificently innocent of any kind of morality.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Mister Dresden is a diplomatically challenged individual. He should be in a shelter for the tactless.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“We all must die. There is no better way to do so than in the pursuit of something you love.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I am the foremost collector of velvet Elvii in the city of Chicago," I said at once.

"Elvii?" Marcone inquired.

"The plural would be Elvises, I guess," I said. "But if I say that too often, I start muttering to myself and calling things 'my precious,' so I usually go with the Latin plural.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks



“Some things just aren't meant to go together. Things like oil and water. Orange juice and toothpaste.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“It's one of the things that makes us different than they are, Harry. The blood on their hands does not make it right to bloody my own. My choices are measured against my own soul. Not against the stains on theirs.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“Not that I was worried about anyone stealing my car. I once had a car thief offer to get me something better for a sweetheart rate.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I like dogs. They give Mister something to snack on.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I brought the Beetle to life with a roar. Well. Not really a roar. A Volkswagen Bug doesn't roar. But it sort of growled...”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks



“It always shocked me how you could understand so many things and be such a complete idiot about so many others.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


“I am just another blind man. I do not get the whole picture of what transpires in all places. I am blind and limited. I would be a fool to think myself wise. And so, not knowing what the universe means, I can only try to be responsible with the knowledge, the strength, and the time given to me.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Death Masks


About the author

Jim Butcher
Born place: in Independence, Missouri, The United States
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“Yes, such has been my lot since childhood. Everyone read signs of non-existent evil traits in my features. But since they were expected to be there, they did make their appearance. Because I was reserved, they said I was sly, so I grew reticent. I was keenly aware of good and evil, but instead of being indulged I was insulted and so I became spiteful. I was sulky while other children were merry and talkative, but though I felt superior to them I was considered inferior. So I grew envious. I was ready to love the whole world, but no one understood me, and I learned to hate. My cheerless youth passed in conflict with myself and society, and fearing ridicule I buried my finest feelings deep in my heart, and there they died. I spoke the truth, but nobody believed me, so I began to practice duplicity. Having come to know society and its mainsprings, I became versed in the art of living and saw how others were happy without that proficiency, enjoying for free the favors I had so painfully striven for. It was then that despair was born in my heart--not the despair that is cured with a pistol, but a cold, impotent desperation, concealed under a polite exterior and a good-natured smile. I became a moral cripple; I had lost one half of my soul, for it had shriveled, dried up and died, and I had cut it off and cast it away, while the other half stirred and lived, adapted to serve every comer. No one noticed this, because no one suspected there had been another half. Now, however, you have awakened memories of it in me, and what I have just done is to read its epitaph to you. Many regard all epitaphs as ridiculous, but I do not, particularly when I remember what rests beneath them.”
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