“The heart of democracy is violence, Miss Tagwynn,” Esterbrook said. “In order to decide what to do, we take a count of everyone for and against it, and then do whatever the larger side wishes to do. We’re having a symbolic battle, its outcome decided by simple numbers. It saves us time and no end of trouble counting actual bodies—but don’t mistake it for anything but ritualized violence. And every few years, if the person we elected doesn’t do the job we wanted, we vote him out of office—we symbolically behead him and replace him with someone else. Again, without the actual pain and bloodshed, but acting out the ritual of violence nonetheless. It’s actually a very practical way of getting things done.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Each creature had something it excelled at, he supposed. Humans could manage knots easily, and cats could do everything else.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Bridget blinked once. “Books do not have souls, sir.” “Those who write them do,” Ferus said. “They leave bits and pieces behind them when they lay down the words, some scraps and smears of their essential nature.” He sniffed. “Most untidy, really—but assemble enough scraps and one might have something approaching a whole.” “You believe that the library has a soul,” Bridget said carefully. “I do not believe it, young lady,” Ferus said rather stiffly. “I know it.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“It's a tradition,” Grimm said. “Were traditions rational, they’d be procedures.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“It was a well-known fact that humans became more addled than usual when running in herds.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“I am cat,” Rowl said smugly, “which means I have made better use of my time.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“One rather thick volume was titled Means of Execution Through the Ages, and was placed with an elegant balance of nonchalance and availability at the eye level of anyone entering the room. As threats went, it was nearly subliminal—and perhaps it was placed there for that very reason.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“A more capable cat is never impressed by a less capable cat.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Now then Captain" He turned back to Grim "Your have questions, I answers, shall we see if they match?"
"Please" Grim said "I appear to be your guest, have I you to thank for caring for me?" Ferrus' shoulders sagged in evident disappointment "Oh.... apparently they do not match... I was going to say strawberries!”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“the worst madmen don’t seem odd at all,” Grimm said. “They appear to be quite calm and rational, in fact. Until the screaming starts.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“...if you go exploring, you might find something that could hurt you."
"If one doesn't , one is not truly exploring”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Rowl was not prepared to tolerate incompetence where his personal human was concerned. He had just gotten her properly trained.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“There are many things you have never done,” Rowl responded. “To be frightened of them is of no use to you.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Let me be clear that I never offered House Astor an insult... Nor did I insult Reginald. I simply described him in accurate terms. If he finds himself insulted by the truth, it's hardly my concern.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“That you are young,” the cat said. “And less wise than one who is old. I am wiser than you, and I say you should go. It is obvious. You should trust a wiser head than your own.” “You aren’t any older than I am,” she countered. “I am cat,” Rowl said smugly, “which means I have made better use of my time.” “Oh, you’re impossible,” Bridget said. “Yes. Cat.” Rowl rose and flowed down onto the floor. He turned to face her, curling his tail around his paws. “Why do you wish to dishonor and humiliate Wordkeeper? Would you change his name?” “No, of course not,” Bridget said. “But I’m just . . . I’m not like him.” “No,” Rowl said. “That is what growing up is for.” “I am not a child,” she said. The cat looked around speculatively and then turned back to her. “Rather than do your duty, you are hiding in the darkest corner of the darkest room in your home. This is very wise. Very mature.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“A human of significantly less clumsiness than most came aboard, a small male, and despite its diminutive stature, it moved with a warrior’s confidence and wore a very large and fine hat. Such hats often signified humans who considered themselves important, which was adorable for the first few moments and trying ever after.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“You can describe it to them as much as you want. You can write books about what you felt, what you experienced. You can compose poems and songs about what it was like. But until they’ve seen it for themselves, they can’t really know what it is you’re talking about. A few people will clearly see the effect it had on you, will understand that much, at least. But they won’t know.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“It is often very useful for others to think you less intelligent than you are, "Benedict said, his tone amused. "It works particularly well against those who aren't as intelligent as you in the first place.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“A wonderful place, the mind, but if it has any kind of disappointing failure, it’s that it always attempts to put new things into the context of things which are already familiar to it.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Ah,” Bridget said, flushing slightly. As the glib-tongued lout in question, she was currently on the receiving end of this facet of the habble’s law. “I’m not sure everyone would agree with you. We’re a civilized society, are we not?” Esterbrook blinked. “Since when, miss? We’re a democracy.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Not even his father would assert that it was practical to manage five humans. It was a well-known fact that humans became more addled than usual when running in herds.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Money is a madness, a delusion-illusion. It’s not made of metal, really. It’s made of time. How much is one’s time worth? If one can convince enough people that one’s time is an invaluable resource, then one has lots and lots of money. That’s why one can spend time—only one can never get a refund.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Those who write them do,” Ferus said. “They leave bits and pieces behind them when they lay down the words, some scraps and smears of their essential nature.” He sniffed. “Most untidy, really—but assemble enough scraps and one might have something approaching a whole.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Predator is not property,” Grimm said in a calm, level tone. “She is not my possession. She is my home. Her crew are not my employees. They are my family. And if you threaten to take my home and destroy the livelihood of my family again, Commodore, I will be inclined to kill you where you stand.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“After the way I left, I suddenly find myself wanting very much to go home. But . . . it won’t be the same when I get back. Will it?” “It will be the same,” Grimm said. “You’re the one who has changed.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Grimm frowned. “Ah. Um. Am I in any danger?” “You’re dead as a stone, man!” “I am?” “Yes. No, actually, not even remotely, but for purposes of this conversation, yes.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“What was the point in all the fighting with gauntlets if they were only going to stop fighting the moment the outnumbered fools decided the fight was over? Rowl flicked his tail in exasperation. Humans.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Truth does not become untruth simply because its existence upsets the scion of a High House.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“Those who had never seen a tribe of cats at war, or at least playing war games, would look upon what came next as utter chaos.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
“It takes calculation to win a duel against a reptile, and you've always been impatient.”
― Jim Butcher, quote from The Aeronaut's Windlass
Jim Butcher
Born place: in Independence, Missouri, The United States
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“If anything happened to you, I'd be so destroyed they'd have to strap me to a bed and feed me through a tube. After five or six years, I might be capable of taking care of Rex. In the interim, you should assign a guardian.”
― Janet Evanovich, quote from Fearless Fourteen
“I'll understand if you don't want me. But I will be heartbroken. You are all I ever dreamed of and hoped for. You are much, much more. Please know that I didn't think I was mean-minded. But I realize I am. I don't want you to put your arms around me and say it's all right, that you forgive me. I want you to be sure that you do, and my love for you will last as long as I live. I can see no lightness, no humour, no joke to make. I just hope that we will be able to go back to when we had laughter, and the world was coloured, not black and white and grey. I am so sorry for hurting you. I could inflict all kinds of pain on myself, but it would not take back any I gave to you. - David Power”
― Maeve Binchy, quote from Echoes
“Perhaps it is the setting; rules tend to reduce their grip when you cross borders.”
― quote from Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
“On that day so long ago, in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, in the Massacre River, my mother did fly. Weighted down by my body inside hers, she leaped from Dominican soil into the water, and out again on the Haitian side of the river. She glowed red when she came out, blood clinging to her skin, which at that moment looked as though it were in flames.”
― Edwidge Danticat, quote from Krik? Krak!
“I gave, at first, attention close;
Then interest warm ensued;
From interest, as improvement rose,
Succeeded gratitude.
'Obedience was no effort soon,
And labour was no pain;
If tired, a word, a glance alone
Would give me strength again.
'From others of the studious band
Ere long he singled me,
But only by more close demand
And sterner urgency.
'The task he from another took,
From me he did reject;
He would no slight omission brook
And suffer no defect.
'If my companions went astray,
He scarce their wanderings blamed.
If I but faltered in the way
His anger fiercely flamed.”
― Charlotte Brontë, quote from The Professor
My Grandmother's Han...
Venetia
Ozma of Oz
A Song for Summer
The Lion in Winter
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