Skulduggery Pleasant

Doors are for people with no imagination.

I'm placing you under arrest for murder, conspiracy to commit murder and, I don't know, possibly littering.

What is it?' Stephanie whispered. 'That, my dear Valkyrie, is what we call a monster.' She looked at Skulduggery. 'You don't know what it is, do you?' 'I told you what it is, it's a horrible monster. Now shut up before it comes over here and eats us.

There’s no such thing as winning or losing. There is won and there is lost, there is victory and defeat. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still left to fight for. Serpine will have won only when there is no one left to stand against him. Until then, there is only the struggle, because tides do what tides do–they turn.

Every solution to every problem is simple. It's the distance between the two where the mystery lies.

What would killing the Elders result in?" "Panic? Fear? Three empty parking spaces in the Sanctuary?

Are you kidding? I jumped off a building -- of course I'm hurt.

I love you all, even those I don’t particularly like. That’s you, Beryl.

Valkyrie: “You are such a moron.” Skulduggery: “Don't be jealous of my genius.

Found something?” “No, sorry. I thought I had, but, no, it turned out to be, uh… more floor.

You're not stealing anything, you're not breaking anything, so I'd guess you're Stephanie.

Her parents wanted her to find her own way in life. That’s what they’d said countless times in the past. Of course, they’d been referring to school subjects and college applications and job prospects. Presumably, at no stage did they factor living skeletons and magic underworlds into their considerations. If they had, their advice would probably have been very different.

This is your one chance. Tell me where the key is." "Okay." Serpine raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "No, only joking. Do your worst.

I woke up, a bag of bones. Literally. They had gathered up my bones and put them in a bag and thrown the bag into a river.

You can only anticipate what someone is going to do if you know exactly what that someone has just done.' --Skulduggery

Gordon Edgley's sudden death came as a shock to everyone - not least himself. One moment he was in his study, seven words into the twenty-fifth sentence of the final chapter of his new book, And the Darkness Rained upon Them, and the next he was dead. A tragic loss, his mind echoed numbly as he slipped away.

The world is bigger than you know, and scarier than you might imagine. The only currency worth anything is being true to yourself, and the only goal worth seeking is finding out who you truly are.

If there is one regret that I have had in my life, it is that I never fathered any children. There are times, when I look at what Fergus and Beryl have produced, when I consider myself fortunate, but there are also times when it breaks my heart.

He put on his hat and wrapped his scarf around his jaw, but did without the wig and the sunglasses. He clicked his key chain and the car beeped and the doors locked. "That's it?" He looked up. "Sorry?" "Aren't you afraid it might get stolen? We're not exactly in a good part of town." "It's got a car alarm." "Don't you, like, cast a spell or something? To keep it safe?" "No. It's a pretty good car alarm.

Cheer up everyone," he said, a new brightness to his voice. "Since we’re all going to die horribly anyway, what’s there to be worried about?

Right, well, we've got to work out what we need. We've got to work out what we need, how we get it, and what we need to get to get what we need.

There’s something about you, Valkyrie. I’m not quite sure what it is. I look at you and…” “And you’re reminded of yourself when you were my age?” “Hmm? Oh, no, what I was going to say is there’s something about you that is really annoying, and you never do what you’re told, and sometimes I question your intelligence, but even so I’m going to train you, because I like having someone follow me around like a little puppy. It makes me feel good about myself.

Wait, do they even know I'm coming with you?" "No. But they like surprises. Almost always.

Tides do what tides do–they turn.

A living skeleton isn't enough for you, is it? What does it take to impress young people these days?

And what about magic?” “What about it?” “Will you teach me?” “You don’t even know if you’re capable of doing magic.” “How do I find out? Is there a test or something?” “Yes, we cut off your head. If it grows back, you can do magic.

I just want to let you know that I love you all. Even those of you that I don't like; that's you Beryl.

By the time they got to Denholm Street, day had been beaten back and the night was soaking through the city.

He does this on purpose," Stephanie's mother said as they sat in the car, seat belts on and ready to go. They watched him appear at the front door, shrug into his jacket, tuck in his shirt, go to step out, and then pause. "He looks like he's about to sneeze," Stephanie remarked.

We live in a time of fear," Skulduggery said, "where we're too scared of upsetting the status quo to ask the questions we need to be asking.