WIST Quotations

Butcher, Jim -- “Something Borrowed,” My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (2006)

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 14:37:44 +0000

I let out a battle cry. Sure, a lot of people might have mistaken it for a sudden yelp of unmanly fear, but trust me. It was a battle cry.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
“Something Borrowed,” My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding (2006)

Butcher, Jim -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:28:04 +0000

Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
(Attributed)

Often cited to the short story "Vignette" (also known as "Publicity and Advertising"), but not found there.

Butcher, Jim -- (Attributed)

Dave — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:42:22 +0000

Pain is a byproduct of life. That’s the truth. Life sometimes sucks. That’s true for everyone. But if you don’t face the pain and the suck, you don’t ever get the other things either. Laughter. Joy. Love. Pain passes, but those things are worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
(Attributed)

Often cited to the short story "Vignette" (also known as "Publicity and Advertising"), but not found there.

Butcher, Jim -- Blood Rites (2004)

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:21:00 +0000

“Oh, what would you like on your vegetarian pizza?”
“Dead pigs and cows,” I said.
She glanced up at me and wrinkled her nose.
“They’re vegetarians,” I said defensively.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Blood Rites (2004)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes (2010)

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 12:26:35 +0000

“Ack!” I said. Fearless master of the witty dialogue, that’s me.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes (2010)

Dave — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:47:39 +0000

There’re things we keep hidden from one another. Things we hide from ourselves. Things that are kept hidden from us. And things no one knows. You always learn the damnedest things at the worst possible times.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes, ch. 14 (2010)

Dave — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 15:18:09 +0000

I felt fairly sure that the Almighty, whatever name tag He had on at the moment, could handle a few questions from people sincerely looking for answers. Hell, He might even like it.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 14 (2010)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes, ch. 18 (2010)

Dave — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 13:35:26 +0000

As a whole, people suck, but a person can be extraordinary.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 18 (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes, ch. 26 (2010)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 13:44:50 +0000

But there were some things I believed in. Some things I had faith in. And faith isn’t about perfect attendance to services, or how much money you put on the little plate. It isn’t about going skyclad to the Holy Rites, or meditating each day upon the divine. Faith is about what you do. It’s about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It’s about making sacrifices for the good of others — even when there’s not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 26 (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes, ch. 33 [Sanya] (2010)

Dave — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 12:55:29 +0000

Laugh whenever you can. Keeps you from killing yourself when things are bad. That and vodka.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 33 [Sanya] (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Changes, ch. 9 (2010)

Dave — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 13:49:31 +0000

Susan smiled at me, giving Molly the Female Once-Over — a process by which one woman creates a detailed profile of another woman based upon about a million subtle details of clothing, jewelry, makeup, and body type, and then decides how much of a social threat she might be. Men have a parallel process, but it’s binary: Does he have beer? If yes, will he share with me?

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Changes, ch. 9 (2010)

Butcher, Jim -- Cold Days (2012)

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:42:41 +0000

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

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Cold Days (2012)

Butcher, Jim -- Cold Days (2012)

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 12:38:07 +0000

See, that’s the tragedy of the human condition. No one wants to be corrupted by power when they set out to get it. They have good, even noble reasons for doing whatever it is they do. They don’t want to misuse it, they don’t want to abuse it, and they don’t want to become vicious monsters. Good people, decent people, set out to take the high road, to pick up power without letting it change them or push them away from their ideals. But it keeps happening anyway.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Cold Days (2012)

Butcher, Jim -- Cold Days (2012)

Dave — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 09:24:19 +0000

As a rule, people aren’t good at handling power. And the second you start to think you’re better at controlling your power than anyone else, you’ve already taken the first step.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Cold Days (2012)

Butcher, Jim -- Cold Days, ch. 27 (2012)

Dave — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:16:48 +0000

No one just starts giggling and wearing black and signs up to become a villainous monster. How the hell do you think it happens? It happens to people. Just people. They make questionable choices, for what might be very good reasons. They make choice after choice, and none of them is slaughtering roomfuls of saints, or murdering hundreds of baby seals, or rubber-room irrational. But it adds up. And then one day they look around and realized that they’re so far over the line that they can’t remember where it was.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Cold Days, ch. 27 (2012)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Dead Beat (2003)

Dave — Tue, 13 May 2014 15:19:12 +0000

The movie of my life must be really low budget.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Dead Beat (2003)

Butcher, Jim -- Dead Beat (2005)

Dave — Tue, 20 May 2014 12:35:56 +0000

Fear is a part of life. It’s a warning mechanism. That’s all. It tells you when there’s danger around. Its job is to help you survive. Not cripple you into being unable to do it.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Dead Beat (2005)

Butcher, Jim -- Dead Beat (2005)

Dave — Tue, 27 May 2014 12:54:07 +0000

Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Dead Beat (2005)

Butcher, Jim -- Death Masks (2003)

Dave — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 13:55:34 +0000

Life would be unbearably dull if we had answers to all our questions.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Death Masks (2003)

Butcher, Jim -- Death Masks (2003)

Dave — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:08:10 +0000

There are things you can’t walk away from. Not if you want to live with yourself afterward.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Death Masks (2003)

Butcher, Jim -- Death Masks (2003)

Dave — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 12:44:09 +0000

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 (b. 1971) American author
Death Masks (2003)

Butcher, Jim -- Death Masks, ch. 33 [Michael Carpenter] (2003)

Dave — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:42:51 +0000

My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Death Masks, ch. 33 [Michael Carpenter] (2003)

Butcher, Jim -- First Lord’s Fury (2009)

Dave — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:03:17 +0000

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.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
First Lord’s Fury (2009)

Butcher, Jim -- Fool Moon (2001)

Dave — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:46:17 +0000

It isn’t enough to stand up and fight darkness. You’ve got to stand apart from it, too. You’ve got to be different from it.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Fool Moon (2001)

Butcher, Jim -- Fool Moon (2001)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:42:01 +0000

There’s more magic in a baby’s first giggle than in any firestorm a wizard can conjure up, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Fool Moon (2001)

Butcher, Jim -- Ghost Story (2011)

Dave — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 12:00:31 +0000

“Star Trek?” I asked her. “Really?”
“What?” she demanded, bending unnaturally black eyebrows together.
“There are two kinds of people in the universe, Molly,” I said. “Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans. This is shocking.”
She sniffed. “This is the post-nerd-closet world, Harry. It’s okay to like both.”
“Blasphemy and lies,” I said.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Ghost Story (2011)

Butcher, Jim -- Ghost Story (2011)

Dave — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:27:51 +0000

I sometimes give myself excellent advice. Occasionally, I even listen to it.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Ghost Story (2011)

Butcher, Jim -- Ghost Story, ch. 21 (2011)

Dave — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:54:29 +0000

Discussing a problem with yourself is almost never a good way to secure a divergent viewpoint.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Ghost Story, ch. 21 (2011)

Butcher, Jim -- Ghost Story, ch. 9 (2011)

Dave — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 13:46:55 +0000

Boobs are near the center of the universe, until you turn twenty-five or so. Which is also when young men’s auto insurance rates go down. This is not a coincidence.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Ghost Story, ch. 9 (2011)

Butcher, Jim -- Grave Peril (2001)

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:46:46 +0000

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “Hellhounds.”
“Harry,” Michael said sternly. “You know I hate it when you swear.”
“You’re right. Sorry. Holy shit,” I breathed, “heckhounds.”

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Grave Peril (2001)

Butcher, Jim -- Grave Peril (2001)

Dave — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 12:37:36 +0000

“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.”

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Grave Peril (2001)

Butcher, Jim -- Grave Peril, ch. 24 (2008)

Dave — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:43:53 +0000

I don’t have anything against God. Far from it. But I don’t understand Him. And I don’t trust a lot of the people that go around claiming that they’re working in His best interests.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Grave Peril, ch. 24 (2008)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Peace Talks (2020)

Dave — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 16:54:38 +0000

Fear is a prison. But when you combine it with secrets, it becomes especially toxic, vicious. It puts us all into solitary, unable to hear one another clearly.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Peace Talks (2020)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Peace Talks, ch. 32 (2020)

Dave — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 20:52:14 +0000

Some free advice for you: Never fight an old man. They’ve been there, done that, written the book, made and starred in the movie, designed the T-shirt, and they’ve got no ego at all about how the fight gets won.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Peace Talks, ch. 32 (2020)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Princeps’ Fury (2008)

Dave — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 13:58:52 +0000

All things pass in time. We are far less significant than we imagine ourselves to be. All that we are, all that we have wrought, is but a shadow, no matter how durable it may seem. One day, when the last man has breathed his last breath, the sun will shine, the mountains will stand, the rain will fall, the streams will whisper — and they will not miss him.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Princeps’ Fury (2008)

Butcher, Jim -- Princeps’ Fury, Epilogue [Gaius Sextus] (2008)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:26:29 +0000

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Princeps’ Fury, Epilogue [Gaius Sextus] (2008)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Proven Guilty (2006)

Dave — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:14:30 +0000

I don’t care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching — they are your family.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Proven Guilty (2006)

Butcher, Jim -- Proven Guilty, ch. 41 (2006)

Dave — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 14:42:36 +0000

Most of the bad guys in the real world don’t know that they are bad guys. You don’t get a flashing warning sign that you’re about to damn yourself. It sneaks up on you when you aren’t looking.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Proven Guilty, ch. 41 (2006)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Proven Guilty, ch. 47 (2006)

Dave — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 15:00:32 +0000

Life can be confusing. Good God, and how. Sometimes it seems like the older I get, the more confused I become. That seems ass-backwards. I thought I was supposed to be getting wiser. Instead, I just keep getting hit over the head with my relative insignificance in the greater scheme of the universe. Confusing, life.

But it beats the hell out of the alternative.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Proven Guilty, ch. 47 (2006)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- Skin Game (2014)

Dave — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 14:02:51 +0000

More to the point, nameless hideous monsters are freaking terrifying. You always fear what you don’t know, what you don’t understand, and the first step to having understanding of something is to know what to call it. It’s a habit of mine to give names to anything I wind up interacting with if it doesn’t have one readily available. Names have power — magically, sure, but far more important, they have psychological power. Something horrible with a name holds less power over you, less terror, than something horrible without one.
“Octokongs,” I pronounced grimly. “Why did it have to be octokongs?”

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Skin Game (2014)

Butcher, Jim -- Skin Game (2014)

Dave — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 16:32:05 +0000

The dead don’t need justice. That’s for those of us who are left looking down at the remains.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Skin Game (2014)

Butcher, Jim -- Skin Game (2014)

Dave — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 15:58:36 +0000

Doesn’t matter how pretty you are. What’s important is how pretty you feel. No one feels pretty when they hear “no” often enough.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Skin Game (2014)

Butcher, Jim -- Skin Game (2014)

Dave — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:26:55 +0000

Home is where, when you go there and tell people to get out, they have to leave.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Skin Game (2014)

Butcher, Jim -- Small Favor (2008)

Dave — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 12:30:12 +0000

You can be as sincere as hell and still be wrong.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Small Favor (2008)

Butcher, Jim -- Small Favor (2008)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:36:52 +0000

Caring about someone isn’t complicated. It isn’t easy. But it isn’t complicated, either. Kinda like lifting the engine block out of a car.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Small Favor (2008)

Butcher, Jim -- Small Favor (2008)

Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 12:46:32 +0000

Body or mind, heart or soul, we’re all human, and we’re supposed to feel pain. You cut yourself off from it at your own risk.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Small Favor (2008)

Butcher, Jim -- Storm Front (2000)

Dave — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:38:07 +0000

Maybe my values are outdated, but I come from an old school of thought. I think that men ought to treat women like something other than just shorter, weaker men with breasts. Try and convict me if I’m a bad person for thinking so. I enjoy treating a woman like a lady, opening doors for her, paying for shared meals, giving flowers — all that sort of thing.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front (2000)

Butcher, Jim -- Storm Front (2000)

Dave — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:03:00 +0000

Kids. You gotta love them. I adore children. A little salt, a squeeze of lemon — perfect.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front (2000)

Butcher, Jim -- Storm Front (2000)

Dave — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:58:10 +0000

Have you ever been approached by a grim-looking man, carrying a naked sword with a blade about ten miles long in his hand, in the middle of the night, beneath the stars on the shores of Lake Michigan? If you have, seek professional help. If you have not, then believe you me, it can scare the bejeezus out of you.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front (2000)

Butcher, Jim -- Storm Front, ch. 1 (2000)

Dave — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:56:57 +0000

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front, ch. 1 (2000)

Butcher, Jim -- Storm Front, ch. 17 (2000)

Dave — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 13:44:15 +0000

Rain was coming down in sheets. I could hear it, on the concrete outside and on the old building above me. It creaked and swayed in the spring thunderstorm and the wind, timbers gently flexing, wise enough with age to give a little, rather than put up stubborn resistance until they broke. I could probably stand to learn something from that.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Storm Front, ch. 17 (2000)

Butcher, Jim -- Summer Knight, ch. 30 (2002)

Dave — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 13:49:42 +0000

Sometimes the most remarkable things seem commonplace. I mean, when you think about it, jet travel is pretty freaking remarkable. You get in a plane, it defies the gravity of an entire planet by exploiting a loophole with air pressure, and it flies across distances that would take months or years to cross by any means of travel that has been significant for more than a century or three. You hurtle above the earth at enough speed to kill you instantly should you bump into something, and you can only breathe because someone built you a really good tin can that seems tight enough to hold in a decent amount of air. Hundreds of millions of man-hours of work and struggle and research, blood, sweat, tears and lives have gone into the history of air travel, and it has totally revolutionized the face of our planet and societies. But get on any flight in the country, and I absolutely promise you that you will find someone who, in the face of all that incredible achievement, will be willing to complain about the drinks. The drinks, people.

Jim Butcher (b. 1971) American author
Summer Knight, ch. 30 (2002)
(Source)

Butcher, Jim -- The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015)

Dave — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:01:15 +0000

“In my experience, 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 (b. 1971) American author
The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015)

Butcher, Jim -- Turn Coat (2009)

Dave — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:40:41 +0000

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