“Home is where, when you go there and tell people to get out, they have to leave.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“There’s power in the touch of another person’s hand. We acknowledge it in little ways, all the time. There’s a reason human beings shake hands, hold hands, slap hands, bump hands.
“It comes from our very earliest memories, when we all come into the world blinded by light and color, deafened by riotous sound, flailing in a suddenly cavernous space without any way of orienting ourselves, shuddering with cold, emptied with hunger, and justifiably frightened and confused. And what changes that first horror, that original state of terror?
“The touch of another person’s hands.
“Hands that wrap us in warmth, that hold us close. Hands that guide us to shelter, to comfort, to food. Hands that hold and touch and reassure us through our very first crisis, and guide us into our very first shelter from pain. The first thing we ever learn is that the touch of someone else’s hand can ease pain and make things better.
“That’s power. That’s power so fundamental that most people never even realize it exists.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“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.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“You destroy buildings, fight monsters openly in the streets of the city, work with the police, show up in newspapers, advertise in the phone book, and ride zombie dinosaurs down Michigan Avenue, and think that you work in the shadows? Be reasonable.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Do you know my dog's name?
[...]
"It is from an ancient word, kerberos. It means 'spotted.'"
I blinked. "You're a genuine Greek god. You're the Lord of the Underworld. And . . . you named your dog *Spot*?”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“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, quote from Skin Game
“The Blue Beetle was not a clown car," I said severely. "It was a machine of justice.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Some men fall from grace. Some are pushed.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“I don't want to make her [Maggie] a target again," I said.
Michael sighed patiently. "Harry," he said, as if speaking to a rather slow child,"I'm not sure if you noticed this. But things did not turn out well for the last monster who raised his hand against your child. Or any of his friends. Or associates. Or anyone who worked for him. Or for most of the people he knew.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“You think your power is what shapes the world you walk in. But that is an illusion. Your choices shape your world. You think your power will protect you from the consequences of those choices. But you are wrong. You create your own rewards. There is a Judge. There is Justice in this world. And one day you will receive what you have earned. Choose carefully.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“beer is an excellent argument that there is a God, and that furthermore, He wants us to be happy.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“I grunted. “She’s not a delicate princess,” I said. “She’s a warrior. Warriors have enemies. Sometimes warriors get hurt.” I felt my jaws clench. “And then their friends even things up.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Things are not always as bad as they seem. Sometimes, the darkness only makes it easier to see the light.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Michael smiled at me a little. “You’re a good man, Harry. But you’re making the same mistake Nicodemus always has—and the same one Karrin did.” “What mistake?” “You all think the critical word in the phrase ‘Sword of Faith’ is ‘sword.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“There are moments in your life that, when you look back at them, you realize were perfect.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Did you shout 'Parkour'?" Michael asked.
"Well, sure," I said. "That was kinda Parkour-like."
Michael fought to keep a smile off his face. "Harry," he said, "I'm almost certain one does not shout 'Parkour.' I believe one is supposed to simply do Parkour."
"Do I criticize your Latin battle cries? No, never once.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Nice try?” Butters said. “Mister, where I come from, there is no try.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“I’m lost. I know every step I took to get here, and I’m still lost.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“One ravishing dark-haired beauty wearing leather pants and strategically applied electrical tape, stared hard at me and, when she saw me looking, licked her lips very, very slowly. She trailed a fingertip over her chin, down across her throat, and down over her sternum and gave me a smile so wicked that it's parents should have sent it to military school.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“Why is it that you’ve never got the least goddamned clue what’s happening inside your own head. Have you ever noticed this trend? Doesn’t it bug you sometimes?”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“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, quote from Skin Game
“Cerberus,” I said promptly. “But everyone knows that.” “Do you know what it means?” I opened my mouth and closed it again. I shook my head. “It is from an ancient word, kerberos. It means ‘spotted.’” I blinked. “You’re a genuine Greek god. You’re the Lord of the Underworld. And . . . you named your dog Spot?” “Who’s a good dog?” Hades said, scratching the third head behind the ears, and making the beast’s mouth drop open in a doggy grin. “Spot is. Yes, he is.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“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, quote from Skin Game
“I know you've been aching to have your hands on my staff," I said to Ascher, as Nicodemus examined the altar for himself. I held out my hand. "But I'd rather be the one fondling my tool. Wizards are weird like that."
"Wow," she said, and flashed me a grin, her face flushed, excited. "You left me nowhere to go with that one. I have nothing to add.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“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, quote from Skin Game
“And suddenly a shaft of blinding silver-white light three feet long sprang from the broken hilt of Fidelacchius and shone in the first golden light of that day’s dawn, humming with the full power of the Sword, only louder now, more melodic, and physically audible.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“For a second, I wanted very badly to know a spell that would let me melt through the floor in a quivering puddle of please-don't-kill-me.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
“It isn't complicated. You just open up and let someone in. And whatever comes after that, you face it together.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from Skin Game
Jim Butcher
Born place: in Independence, Missouri, The United States
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“—Aunque por otro lado pienso que no debería verte nunca. Pero te veré porque te necesito.”
― Ernesto Sabato, quote from On Heroes and Tombs
“There is much in this world that hurts us, but if we let pain become our master, we live our lives as slaves.”
― Hannah Hart, quote from Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded
“It was a movie about American bombers in World War II and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers , and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans though and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, quote from Slaughterhouse-five: The Children's Crusade, A Duty-dance with Death
“A few mad exaggerations, alright, within a couple of days: swear to fucking god, they were like throwing grenades and pulling out all kinds of crazy knackery, it was out of control. Whatever. As if the story, if big enough, reflected glory on the teller.”
― China Miéville, quote from Kraken
“What is going on with you, Rev?”
He rubs his eyes. “I don’t know. I’m just tired.”
I think of how he sat in the hospital with me, saying nothing. His silence was more supportive than anything he could have said.
I don’t know how to do that in return. Maybe I can offer something else, though. I pull out my phone and do a quick search, then turn it around and slide it across the bed.
He doesn’t reach for it. “Did she send more?”
“No. It’s a poem I had to read for English. Read it.”
He looks up, and the expression on his face is exactly the one I’d wear if he suddenly said, Hey bro, read this poem. “What?”
“Just read it. I think you’ll like it.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, quote from Letters to the Lost
The Demon-Haunted Wo...
Carpe Corpus
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Elantris
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