Ben Aaronovitch Quotes

Technically, you don't have to have a corpse to convict for murder but detectives always feel better when they've found your actual victim—they're superstitious like that.

We did not tell him we were witch hunting, as that sort of thing tends to cause alarm.

It’s a police mantra that all members of the public are guilty of something, but some members of the public are more guilty than others.

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.

Half-caste, I thought. I hadn’t heard that one in a while. Not since Mum fell out with Aunty Doris, who having grown up in Jamaica in the 1950s regarded political correctness as something that happened to other people.

As Conan the Barbarian famously said, “That which does not kill us does not kill us.”

It was a good plan, and like all plans since the dawn of time, this would fail to survive contact with real life.

Fortunately," said Nightingale, "seeing isn't always believing.

I want assurances," said Zach.
"You can have my word," I said.
"No disrespect, Peter," he said, "but I don't want a promise from the monkey, I want it from the organ grinder.

A lot of people have died in the Underground, through accidents, stupidity, or suicide. All the one-unders who'

Was it better to die in the illusion of sunshine and warmth or face death in a cold darkness of reality? Was it better to die in happy ignorance or terrified knowledge? The answer, if you’re a Londoner, is that it’s better not to die at all.

You don’t actually know enough about me to insult me properly.

I looked at Lesley—surely nobody could really be that stupid? She shrugged. Lesley has a much lower opinion of humanity than I do.

All diplomatic cars have distinctive plates that indicate status and nationality, for the ease and convenience of terrorists and potential kidnappers.

It's one of those paradox thingies," I said. "What happens when the unstoppable cook meets the unfillable stomach?