Top 500 Jim Butcher Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 10 of 10

451. “Well,” Antillus Raucus said. “There it is.” “Brilliant last words,” Phrygius said beside him. “We’ll put them on your memorium. Right next to, ‘He died stating the obvious.’ ” “Ah,” Lord Placida said. “It begins.” “See?” Phrygius said. “Sandos knows how to go out with style.” “You want to go out with style, I’ll strangle you with your best silk tunic,” growled Antillus.”

— Jim Butcher

452. “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. Faeries and vampires and whatnot – those I can fathom. Even demons. Sometimes, even the Fallen. I can understand why they do what they do. But I don’t understand God. I don’t understand how he could see the way people treat one another, and not chalk up the whole human race as a bad idea.”

— Jim Butcher

453. “I’ve always admired your ability to make jokes when faced with adversity.”

— Jim Butcher

454. “The Shroud was old, and regarded as special, and people believed in it. That could be enough to give it a kind of power, all by itself.”

— Jim Butcher

455. “In for a sheep, in for a gargant.”

— Jim Butcher

456. “You learn very quickly not to make mistakes given the correct incentive to avoid them.”

— Jim Butcher

457. “Honey, I liked the Harry Potter movies, too, but that doesn’t mean I ran out and got a Dark Mark tattooed onto my left forearm like you did.”

— Jim Butcher

458. “Bikers don’t wear all that leather around simply for the fashion value or possible felony assaults. It’s handy for keeping the highway from ripping the skin from your flesh should you wind up losing control of the bike and sliding along the asphalt for a while.”

— Jim Butcher

459. “The Denarians want to disrupt civilization, and with the Archive under their control, they could do it. Maybe they’d use biological or chemical weapons instead. Maybe they’d crash the world economy. Maybe they’d turn every program on television into one of those reality shows.” “That’s mostly done already, Harry.”

— Jim Butcher

460. “He had hard, steady eyes, and all the comforting, reassuring charm of a dental drill. – Harry Dresden describing Morgan.”

— Jim Butcher

461. “I parked in front of the Field Museum under a NO PARKING sign. There were a couple of actual spots I could have used, but the drive was even closer. Besides, I found it aesthetically satisfying to defy municipal code.”

— Jim Butcher

462. “You’re dead, son. Cheer is contraindicated.”

— Jim Butcher

463. “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

464. “You’d think as long as I was gambling with my soul, I would have thought to get Mab to throw in fifty bucks an hour plus expenses.”

— Jim Butcher

465. “Honestly. He sometimes felt that humans simply had to be deliberately obtuse. What was so difficult about understanding civilized and excellently enunciated speech?”

— Jim Butcher

466. “Come with me if you want to live.”

— Jim Butcher

467. “Shame, child, is for those who fail to live up to the ideal of what they believe they should be.”

— Jim Butcher

468. “Here’s something else I bet you didn’t know about Tyrannosaurs: they don’t corner well.”

— Jim Butcher

469. “Thomas was an annoying wiseass who tended to make everyone he met want to kill him, and when I have that much in common with someone, I can’t help but like him a little.”

— Jim Butcher

470. “My answer came out at once. For me, chivalry isn’t dead; it’s an involuntary reflex. It could have been any woman asking for help, and I’d have said the same thing. It might have taken me a second or two longer, but I would have. For Elaine, there was no need to think about it for even that long. “I’ll help.”

— Jim Butcher

471. “I pressed past the outer branches of the lilacs and found a small and relatively open space in the middle. Then I waited.”

— Jim Butcher

472. “Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it’s a big part, and sometimes it isn’t, but either way, it’s part of the big puzzle, the deep music, the great game. Pain does two things: It teaches you, tells you that you’re alive. Then it passes away and leaves you changed. It leaves you wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you in life is going to involve it in one degree or another.”

— Jim Butcher

473. “What do you do to make up for failing everyone in your life? How do you make it right? How do you apologize for hideous things you never intended to happen?”

— Jim Butcher

474. “It’s one hour. Just one little hour. What could happen in one hour?” And that’s how I knew that Mort was telling the whole truth when he said he wasn’t a hero. Heroes know better than to hand the universe lines like that.”

— Jim Butcher

475. “Your face looks like a sack of purple potatoes.”

— Jim Butcher

476. “No one was standing in the shadows smoking a cigarette or looking about with a shifty-eyed gaze. I couldn’t see anyone quickly hiding a bloody knife behind his back or twirling a moustache, either. That ruled out the Dudley Do-Right approach to finding the killer.”

— Jim Butcher

477. “Life is too short, Harry. And there’s nowhere near enough joy in it. If you find it, grab it. Before it’s gone.”

— Jim Butcher

478. “Time, time,” Toot complained. “Is that all you mortals can ever think about? Everyone’s complaining about time! The whole city rushes left and right screaming about being late and honking horns! You people used to have it right, you know.”

— Jim Butcher

479. “For the good of the people, some must place themselves in harm’s way. Some must pledge their courage and their lives to protect the community.”

— Jim Butcher

480. “Thomas has the kind of whiter-than-white boyish grin that makes women’s panties spontaneously evaporate.”

— Jim Butcher

481. “Mathematically, maybe,” I said. “But trust isn’t one of those things that lends itself well to math.” “Sure it does,” Bob said. “You trust somebody, they betray you, you get a negative value. You never trust, they can never disappoint you, you break even.”

— Jim Butcher

482. “Laughter is good for you. Nine out of ten stand-up comedians recommend laughter in the face of intense stupidity.”

— Jim Butcher

483. “Solution: Winchester.”

— Jim Butcher

484. “In the action business, when you don’t want to say you ran like a mouse, you call it ‘taking cover.’ It’s more heroic.”

— Jim Butcher

485. “Seedy wasn’t a fair description for the place, because seeds imply eventual regrowth and renewal.”

— Jim Butcher

486. “I’d gone with my usual option. I was running through long tunnels filled with demons and monsters and nightmares, because it was easier than going to the gym.”

— Jim Butcher

487. “This is what it look like when it WORKS?”

— Jim Butcher

488. “I snagged a golden paper crown from one of the bags, and idly joined it into a circle and put it on my head. Susan blinked at me and let out a brief laugh. ‘I am’ I intoned with an imperious narrowing of my eyes, ’the burger king.”

— Jim Butcher

489. “And besides, she was curious. She had questions. And answering questions was very nearly always more important than caution.”

— Jim Butcher

490. “I put the ick in magic.”

— Jim Butcher

491. “I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve done without a hitch since the last time I saw you, Dresden. You walk through the door and everything goes to hell.” “That’s embroidered on my towels, actually,” I said.”

— Jim Butcher

492. “It isn’t complicated. You just open up and let someone in. And whatever comes after that, you face it together.”

— Jim Butcher

493. “I swear to you, by my own stunning good looks and towering ego, that I am not lying to you.”

— Jim Butcher

494. “It’s only paranoia if I’m wrong. – Harry Dresden.”

— Jim Butcher

495. “I felt my face stretch in a victorious smile. The potion had worked. I was inside. I had to suppress an urge to break into a soft shoe routine. Sometimes being able to use magic was so cool.”

— Jim Butcher

496. “Truth does not become untruth simply because its existence upsets the scion of a High House.”

— Jim Butcher

497. “Never again. Tell them that. Never again. Or Hell itself will not hide you from me.”

— Jim Butcher

498. “Yeah, but I’m not agnostic. Just nonpartisan. Theological Switzerland, that’s me.”

— Jim Butcher

499. “The Legions have a long tradition, boys. You march hard and fast and show up in places where no one expects you – and then you go to work.” He grinned. “And you do it all carrying a hundred pounds of gear made by whoever did it for the least coin – but every one of those slives gets paid better than you! It’s tradition!”

— Jim Butcher

500. “Life?” I suggested. She shrugged. “Desire. Loneliness. Joy. Pain.” “Life,” I said.”

— Jim Butcher