Ben Aaronovitch Quotes

Hyde Park Corner is what happens when a bunch of urban planners take one look at the grinding circle of gridlock that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and think—that’s what we want for our town.

Sometimes when someone tells you not to go somewhere, it’s better not to go there.

Gaston did betray an abstracted quality that might have been the result of magic. But was more likely down to consuming, I suspected, a tremendous amount of recreational chemicals.

I didn’t dare ask because we have an unspoken agreement—I don’t question what she does on my computer when I’m out and, in return, she doesn’t murder me in my sleep.

Dr. Walid’s theory was that the news media and their consumers unconsciously shied away from events that didn’t fall within the narrow band of their expectations. Shot by a jealous lover or stabbed by a body were narratives they could run with. Killed in an unspecified manner with no witnesses, no CCTV, and no obvious motive probably piqued their curiosity, but would it get clicks or sell papers? More importantly, would it fit the news agenda their organization worked to?

Given that he was writing in the late eighteenth century, I like to cut him slack.

I’m an old-fashioned copper–I don’t believe in breaking the laws of thermodynamics.

Questions would be asked. Answers would be ignored.

Dedication: This book is dedicated to all the people who get up and do something about it, whatever "it" is and however small the thing is they do.

“An AGI?” I asked, because at the Serious Cybernetics Corporation it was important to make a distinction between Artificial General Intelligence and ordinary AI. AGI being the sort that was self-aware enough to pass the Turing test and ask difficult philosophical questions before going “Daisy-Daisy” and trying to wipe out humanity, while ordinary AI mainly tried to sell you books on Amazon.

In home furnishing terms, past a certain point, more money doesn’t get you anything except an increase in insurance premiums.

I’m not a peacock, but on occasion I like to dress to impress, although like most coppers I don’t wear much in the way of bling. The rule being never wear something around your neck that you don’t want to be strangled with.

You're probably wondering why I decided to grace you with my presence," he said.
Which was true, since DCIs spend most of their life in their offices or, worse, in other people's offices and conference rooms. "Playing," Seawoll once said, "pin the fucking buzzword on the sodding flow chart.

It was already one of the hazards of being police that you became suspicious of the everyday. You didn’t have to spend much time on the job before realising that professional criminals are comparatively rare and that crime is something committed by ordinary people.

Peter," said Tyburn. "I need you to stop just pretending to be clever and actually be clever.