Quotes by Jim Butcher

A mans magic demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him. There is no truer gauge of a mans character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power. I was not a murderer. I was not like Victor Sells. I was Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. I was a wizard. Wizards control their power. They dont let it control them. And wizards dont use magic to kill people. They use it to discover, to protect, to mend, to help. Not to destroy.

It rained toads the day the White Council came to town.

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 has seams 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.That was me on the staircase to Chicago-Over-Chicago. Yes, I was standing on nothing but congealed starlight. Yes, I was walking up through a savage storm, the wind threatening to tear me off and throw me into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan far below. Yes, I was using a legendary and enchanted means of travel to transcend the border between one dimension and the next, and on my way to an epic struggle between ancient and elemental forces.But all I could think to say, between panting breaths, was, Yeah. Sure. They couldn’t possibly have made this an escalator.

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 its parents should have sent it to military school.

Technically, I said, Im not breaking any of the Laws of Magic. Im not robbing you of your will, so Im clear of the Fourth Law. And you didnt get loose, so Im clear of the Seventh Law. The Council can bite me.The bone ridges above Chauncys eyes twitched. Surely, that is merely a colorful euphemism, rather than a statement of desire.It is.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

When Im in turmoil, when I cant think, when Im exhausted and afraid and feeling very, very alone, I go for walks. Its just one of those things I do. I walk and I walk and sooner or later something comes to me, something to make me feel less like jumping off a building.

Remember who you are. This creature wants to take it from you. Do not let him.

Maybe this is what it feels like for civilians when they see cops doing some of the dirty work. A lot of times they don’t understand what’s happening. They see something they don’t like and it upsets them—because they don’t have the full story, aren’t personally facing the problem, and don’t know how much worse the alternative could be.

Smiling always seems to annoy people more than actually insulting them. Or maybe I just have an annoying smile.

As far as the Council is concerned, the U.S. Wardens are a bunch of mushrooms.Eh?Kept in the dark and fed on bullshit.

Being here? With you? Ive met my subconscious, and hes not that sick.

Billy squinted at me. Why are you letting them go?Because theyre real.How do you know?The one I was holding crapped on my hand.

Ease off the martyr throttle.

Seedy wasnt a fair description for the place, because seeds imply eventual regrowth and renewal.

...as nervous as a bird in a coal mine.

Thomas has the kind of whiter-than-white boyish grin that makes womens panties spontaneously evaporate.

Whats with that?” Butters screamed, his voice high and frightened. “Just covering his head with his arms? Didnt he see the lawyer in the movie?

The demon trapped in the summoning circle screamed, slamming its crablike pincers against the unseen barrier, hurling its chitinous shoulders from side to side in an effort to escape the confinement. It couldnt. I kept my will on the circle, kept the demon from bursting free.Satisfied, Chauncy? I asked it.The demon straightened its hideous form and said, in a perfect Oxford accent, Quite. You understand, I must observe the formalities.

Paranoid? Probably. But just because youre paranoid doesnt mean that there isnt an invisible demon about to eat your face.