Quotes from Ben Aaronovitch

I'm working on several theories," I said. "But I'm currently favoring the hypothesis that the moon has a seemingly arbitrary effect on magic because it likes to piss me off." "That's a theory with a high degree of applicability to other spheres of life," he said. "Yes it is," I said, and we spontaneously fist

Librarianship... it's not for the faint-hearted.

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

I have reason to believe that you are consorting with a spirit in contravention of the Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and Dealing with Evil and Wicked Spirits 1604,' I said. The Witchcraft Act had actually been superseded in 1736 but I find quoting it helps break the ice on the doorstep.

I don't know why Nightingale was so surprised—I barely knew four and a half spells and you couldn't have got me to give it up, and that's despite close brushes with death by vampire, hanging, malignant spirit, riot, tigerman, and the ever-present risk of overdoing the magic and getting a brain aneurysm.

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.

So magic is real," I said. "Which makes you a … what?" "A wizard." "Like Harry Potter?" Nightingale sighed. "No," he said. "Not like Harry Potter." "In what way?" "I'm not a fictional character," said Nightingale.

Lesley said that my exes knew that past a certain point I'd lost interest, and that's why they always packed me in first. That's not the way I remember it, but Lesley swore she could have constructed a calendar based on my love life. A cyclical one, she said, like the Maya – counting down to disaster. Lesley could be surprisingly erudite sometimes.

It's important for a man to know his limitations, and my limitations started at moving to Peckham and hanging around with yardies, postcode wannabes and those weird, skinny white kids who don't get the irony in Eminem.

I suspected Molly wanted the pictures to send to her friends on Twitter and Facebook, the ones that I was not supposed to know about. 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. Back

Dr Walid walked me past the security at reception and introduced me to today's dead body.

Your ghost,' she said, 'Nicholas Nickleby. Do you think he might still be at the crime scene?' 'How should I know?' I said. 'I don't even believe in ghosts.

I headed over the river to the address listed on Mr Wilkinson's driving licence to see whether there was anyone who loved him enough to kill him.

I showed her my warrant card, and she stared at it in confusion. You get that about half the time, mainly because most members of the public have never seen a warrant card close up and have no idea what the hell it is.

Ever since mankind stopped wandering around aimlessly and started cultivating its own food, society has been growing more complex. As soon as we stopped sleeping with our cousins and built walls, temples and a few decent nightclubs, society became too complex for any one person to grasp all at once, and thus bureaucracy was born.

and I gave him the police stare. The aim of the stare is to convey cynicism combined with weary patience. I know you're about to lie to me but because I am a hugely magnanimous agent of state power, I'm willing to give you a moment to think better of it.

This book is dedicated to all librarians everywhere—for they are the true keepers of the secret flame and not to be trifled with.

In 1666, following an unfortunate workplace accident, the city of London burnt down.

He asked if we were really ghost hunting, and I said we were. "What, like officially?" "Officially secret," I said because discretion is supposed to be, if not our middle name, at least a nickname we occasionally answer to when we remember.

Well, our victim had a thirst for knowledge," said Stephanopoulos. "He was a student at St. Martins College.

Abigail gave me a withering look. But everyone assumes causation when they should be thinking coincidence, and correlation when they should be asking whether Twitter is really a reliable source of information.

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Eden Phillpotts 'A Shadow Passes' (1919)

Stop, police!' I shouted, on the basis that one of these days it was going to have the right effect.

When I'm considering this I find it helpful to quote the wisdom of my father, who once told me, "Who knows why the fuck anything happens?