Top 120 William Ritter Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 2 of 3

51. “Miss Rook,” he said, “the greatest figures in history are never the ones who avoid failure, but those who march chin-up through countless failures, one after the next, until they come upon the occasional victory.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Failure is not the opposite of success – it’s a part of it.”

— William Ritter

52. “Across town, Mr. Henderson – the man who had heard the banshee’s silent scream – spent the evening dying. To be more accurate, he spent a very brief portion of the evening dying, and the rest of it being dead.”

— William Ritter

53. “But trust me, men are never worth it. Behind every great man is a woman who gave up on greatness and tied herself into an apron. Romance is for saps, Abbie. You’re sharp and you’ve got pluck. Don’t waste it.”

— William Ritter

54. “Oh good God! You stared at the frog, didn’t you?”

— William Ritter

55. “Since I picked up my first book, I have been reading about amazing discoveries, intrepid explorers, and fantastic creatures, all while scarcely setting foot outside my own house.”

— William Ritter

56. “There is something humbling about knowing that an entity capable of moving mountains and reshaping continents still takes the time to tend to the smallest patch of dirt. Little things matter. Footsteps matter.”

— William Ritter

57. “Happiness is bliss – but ignorance is anesthetic, and in the face of what’s to come, that may be all we can hope for our ill-fated acquaintances.”

— William Ritter

58. “It looked like precisely the sort of place where a living body might go if it wanted to become a dead one.”

— William Ritter

59. “It is a greater travesty by far to see the innocent punished than to watch the guilty go free.”

— William Ritter

60. “It isn’t every day you celebrate a successful solar revolution.”

— William Ritter

61. “Names have power... And he kept the one I gave him. My dear, sweet Jackaby. – Eleanor.”

— William Ritter

62. “Jackaby put his hand on my shoulder. He waited until I met his gaze to speak. His eyes were soft and full of respect. “Rook,” he said with quiet earnestness, “it was a hare, not a rabbit.”

— William Ritter

63. “Pavel. The pale man. The vampire. We talked. He didn’t murder me horribly, no thanks to you. You were chasing after children at the time. – Abigail, to Jackaby.”

— William Ritter

64. “There is magic in your life! Not appreciating it does not make it any less magical. Yes, some of that magic is dangerous, but so are scissors and electricity and politics- and plenty of other completely human inventions!”

— William Ritter

65. “We are not the policy department, except for those of us who are,” Jackaby revised.”

— William Ritter

66. “I quickly turned my thoughts away from my mother’s overbearing prudence before I might accidentally see reason in it.”

— William Ritter

67. “I never found a book that did not have at least a little magic in it.”

— William Ritter

68. “Commissioner Marlowe stood on the platform with his arms crossed as we disembarked. He had the cheerful demeanor of someone who has been beaten about the face all night with a sock full of porridge – only even more so than usual.”

— William Ritter

69. “Charlie made me a better me, I continued. And he made the world better, day by day. It was his gift. And now he’s gone. I can let that gift die with him, or I can make it my gift. I can keep making the world better, day by day. That feels more like love to me. I wiped my eyes. Charlie’s gone, and I’m not all right. Not yet. But I intend to keep making myself better, day by day, too.”

— William Ritter

70. “I’ve nothing against people as a general rule, but people don’t tend to have the sort of answers I’m looking for.” The fence post just above Jackaby’s head exploded in a spray of splinters with a resonating BLAM! A woman stood in the open doorway across from him, a plain white apron tied around her waist and a fat-barreled rifle in her hands. “Of course, people do have a way of surprising you from time to time,” my employer added.”

— William Ritter

71. “I might be better prepared to slay dragons, I decided, than to flirt with boys.”

— William Ritter

72. “And mostly I just want to be sure you don’t come to me to discuss your romantic entanglements. I much prefer that you remain on comfortable terms with Miss Cavanaugh. Although, should she ever become unavailable,” Jackaby said earnestly,“I want you to know”-he put a hand gently on my shoulder-“that Douglas is an excellent listener.”

— William Ritter

73. “Rook, I should think it obvious.” He smiled broadly. “I’m famously important.”

— William Ritter

74. “That’s nonsense,” said Jackaby. “Fortune favors the prepared. Unless you’re talking about the Fates, in which case fortune generally favors Zeus. Were you talking about the Fates?”

— William Ritter

75. “I found a hat.” “Your mind is both fascinating and infuriating, Miss Rook.”

— William Ritter

76. “The fish had kittens?”

— William Ritter

77. “I’m the spirit you couldn’t kill. You have no power over me.”

— William Ritter

78. “I really have no time for all that How are you? I am fine, thanks. Here’s another inane question. Here’s an equally banal reply. Charmed. Delighted. nonsense.” “They’re called niceties, sir,” I said. “People say them.” “They’re stupid. And people are stupid.” He paused at the front door. “Come to think of it, the word nice used to mean stupid, so I suppose that’s apt.”

— William Ritter

79. “So you’re a freak, too, huh?” sneered the big man. I couldn’t see Jackaby’s face, but I could almost hear the broad grin in his answer. “I’m not generally one for titles, but that is one I’ll embrace with pride.”

— William Ritter

80. “It is the ugliest aspect of human nature that we fear what is most different from ourselves with such violent contempt.”

— William Ritter

81. “Not a rabbit, and not enlarged,” Jackaby corrected. “A Brobdingnagian Hare. He began this size – well, a bit smaller as a young leveret, obviously, but proportionate in his infancy to the lagomorph you see today.” “I swear you just make up every other word sometimes.”

— William Ritter

82. “I have great respect for the medical profession, Miss Rook,” he said soberly, “but it is not for doctors to tell us who we are.”

— William Ritter

83. “I excused myself to go see a duck about a dress.”

— William Ritter

84. “No?” Jackaby tilted his head in mock sympathy. “It must be so dismal being you.” “Only in present company,” I teased back.”

— William Ritter

85. “Progress demands discomfort.”

— William Ritter

86. “All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with a view behind the curtain.”

— William Ritter

87. “If we insist on being ordinary, we can never be truly extraordinary.”

— William Ritter

88. “You are young and your love is a hot biscuit and other abysmally romantic metaphors, I’m sure.”

— William Ritter

89. “The evil warlord appears to be much better at pep talks than you are, sir.” “I have never subscribed to pep,” Jackaby admitted. “Do try not to die.”

— William Ritter

90. “I wonder which was sadder, leaving someone to cry after you were gone, or not having anyone who could miss you in the first place.”

— William Ritter

91. “Why do you have a dead preacher in your attic?” “Because we found it easier to carry him up to the coffin than to maneuver it down to him.”

— William Ritter

92. “I have ceased concerning myself with how things look to others,” I said. “As someone told me recently, others are generally wrong.”

— William Ritter

93. “That the battles are usually in her head does not lessen the bravery of it. The hardest ones always are.”

— William Ritter

94. “When one is raised in polite English society, one does not expect to find oneself keeping a mental list of gruesome crime scenes one has visited – and certainly not to silently rank them by quantity of blood and horridness of smells. What one expects to learn is how to dance the polonaise and to make small talk with the viscount at Mother’s garden party and to stuff oneself into an elaborate costume to be presented at court. All things considered, the murder scene was not so bad.”

— William Ritter

95. “Jackaby reached out a hand and touched the nearest tree. It responded by remaining a tree.”

— William Ritter

96. “One who can see the ordinary is extraordinary indeed, Abigail Rook.”

— William Ritter

97. “Information, interrogation, and collaboration. Plans are always best with a rhyme scheme.”

— William Ritter

98. “Pockets! I was thrilled. I have never understood the aversion to pockets in ladies’ fashion – as though it has become some great shame to appear as if one might actually need to possess anything.”

— William Ritter

99. “You keep trying – and in the end I think maybe that’s the only right thing anybody can do.”

— William Ritter

100. “Don’t forget to feed the pixies and to interrogate the murderess in the cellar. Oh, and the azalea could use some watering.”

— William Ritter