Quotes from Genevieve Cogman

It is my theory that the greater truths underlying life and death can be best be understood as a parable--that is, as a fiction.

Then the howling started. It was either hellhounds or teenagers, and she suspected the former.

She did find that the books displayed prominently in every chamber had been dusted, but the spines were pristine and uncreased. They had the sad, untouched air of literature paraded for display purposes but never actually used. It was profoundly depressing.

one of the Library's mottos was borrowed directly from the great military thinker Clausewitz: no strategy ever survived contact with the enemy. Or, in the vernacular, Things Will Go Wrong. Be Prepared.

Redefining oneself is something we all have to do ... The only person who could ever set bounds on you should be yourself.

All right, Irene thought, I have officially met someone who makes even more reckless plans than I do. 'This could indeed be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,' she agreed, and she couldn't help smiling.

The only problem is that it's difficult to imagine something entirely new. We use the words and definitions of the past to shape our ideas. Something that is genuinely the next evolutionary step is unlikely to resemble anything we can imagine. Even the best books on the subject are limited." She'd

Maybe someone who went round skinning and killing people (order as yet unspecified) was not concerned with making the universe a better place. Just a thought. Zero.

And if she'd been able to choose her options a few hours ago, being trapped in a dead vampire's private study with an angry Fae would not have been one of them.

You may take it as you wish, Irene said. But I am not giving you my mission, and I am not giving you my student, and if I were the sort of person who kept pet rats, I would not give you my rat. Clear?

Stuffed creatures, come to life and attack werewolves.

And there was another elephant in the room. There were so many elephants in the room that it was getting positively crowded.

We are what we make ourselves

Oh well, hindsight always had all the best ideas.

They did attempt to leave the European Union last year, but apparently that was prompted by demonic interference. A lot of politicians were subsequently tried for treason and beheaded at the Tower of London.

She occasionally daydreamed about being the sort of character in a story who could faint and leave everyone else to sort things out. But that wasn't going to happen.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to shut the rest of the world out and have nothing to worry about except the next page of whatever she was reading.

And here in the Library, even if our outer layer is order, we have an inner heart of chaos. We read too much for it to be anything else.

We don't know how many worlds there are, so we don't know how many we lose to chaos.

Now, tell me, Ray, why is it that a thing's always in the last place you look?" "The malice of inanimate objects," Irene answered.

Panic will have everyone rushing off in different directions to try to 'save the Library.' Panic is the antithesis to good organization. Panic is messy. I am against panic on a point of principle.

Management positions always come with ulcers attached.

Write down the problem. Think very hard. Write down the answer.

Socratic questioning was a good idea, because (a) it got students thinking for themselves, (b) sometimes they came up with ideas she hadn't thought of, and (c) it gave her more time to think while they were trying to find answers.