Quotes from Ian Rankin

Now is the first day of the rest of your strife.

When we stop believing in God, we don't suddenly believe in "nothing" … we believe anything.

We've piled his plate high with shit," Fox conceded. "And not even tied a bib around his neck," Kaye added. "Is your afternoon grilling to be courtesy of a woman called Stoddart?

Here's to all the songs and all their singers, in times of darkness and times of light.

Nearest we get to the sun here is when the toaster's on.

Strip the veneer, and the world had moved only a couple of steps from the cave.

The online world could stuff that in its pipe and vape it.

There's an insult buried in there somewhere, but I can't quite see it.

Rain wasn't quite falling yet, but it had scheduled an appointment.

question they couldn't answer as yet. What mattered to them

It was a quiet street—people kept themselves to themselves. It

Nothing in the world tasted as good for breakfast as stolen rolls with some butter and jam and a mug of milky coffee. Nothing tasted better than a venial sin.

Job, actually. I read it once a long time ago. It seems more frightening now though. The man who begins to doubt, who shouts out against his God, looking for a response, and who gets one. 'God gave the world to the wicked,' he says at one point, and 'Why should I bother?' at another." "It sounds interesting. But he goes on bothering?" "Yes, that's the incredible thing.

I doubt he'd give me the smell from his farts—no, tell a lie: in that one respect he's being more than generous.

John Rebus ~ he tried to walk through the isles (of the book shop) without focusing. If he focused he would become interested and if he became interested he would buy. He already had over fifty unread books at home, piled next to his bed

POETS day," he reminded Siobhan. "Piss Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday," she recited.

He felt his arms ache and, looking down, saw that the girl had stopped struggling. There came that point, that sudden, blissful point, when it was useless to go on living, and when the mind and body came to accept that such was the case. That was a beautiful, peaceful moment, the most relaxed moment of one's life.

Semper Vigilo – that's our motto,' Rebus said

You double bolted your door against the psychopath with the chainsaw, only to be stabbed in the back by your lover, husband, son or neighbour.

It's all just policy to you, isn't it?" Rebus said. "No right and wrong, legal and illegal, no fair and corrupt … just politics." "Listen to yourself, man," Sir Iain Hunter spat. "What are you, some Old Testament prophet? Who gives you the right to hold the scales?" He dug the tip of his umbrella into the ground

We're ready for the off, then.

The mistrust and resentment they brought with them, the way tribes feared anything new, anything from outside the camp's tight confines.

Places changing and people with them, dreams shifting ever further beyond reach.

I wouldn't join you if you were coming apart at the seams.