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686a76b
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The Senior Council--" "Couldn't find its heart if it had a copy of , X-ray vision, and a stethoscope."
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Jim Butcher |
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1ebde08
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But you can't go around changing your definition of right and wrong (or smart and stupid) just because doing the wrong thing happens to be really convenient. Sometimes it isn't easy to be sane, smart, and responsible. Sometimes it sucks. Sucks wang. Camel wang. But that doesn't turn wrong into right or stupid into smart.
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Jim Butcher |
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ce43ee2
|
But you'd get arguments from all kinds of people that the Bible has got to be perfect. That God would not permit such errors to be made in the Holy Word." "I thought God gave everyone free will. Which would presumably - and evidently - include the freedom to be incorrect when translating one language into another." "Stop making me think. I'm believing over here."
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religion
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Jim Butcher |
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68f6a75
|
That's arrogance, Harry. " he said, gently. "On a level so deep, you don't even realize it exists. And do you know why it's there?" "No?" I asked. He smiled again. "Because you have set a higher standard for yourself. You think that, because you have more power than others, you have to do more with it." "To whom much is given, much is required," I said, without looking up. He barked out a short laugh. "For someone who repeatedly tells me he..
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redemption
damned
monsters
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Jim Butcher |
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d985cbb
|
Over the course of many encounters and many years, I have successfully developed a standard operating procedure for dealing with big, nasty monsters. Run away.
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Jim Butcher |
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a2772f1
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Life is full of toil, sacrifice, and pain, and from the time we stop growing, we know that we've begun dying. We watch helplessly as year by year, our bodies age and fail, while our survival instincts compel us to keep on going-which means living with the terrifying knowledge that ultimately death is inescapable.
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life
harry-dresden
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Jim Butcher |
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aa6e15e
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He's Black Council," I said. "Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered. I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier." Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day."
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Jim Butcher |
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3557fce
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So in addition to a feisty new Black Court partner in the war dance between the Council and the Vampire Courts, I also got angry lust bunny movies stars, deadly curses, and a thoroughly embarrassing job as my investigative cover. Oh, and bean curd pizza, which is just wrong.
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Jim Butcher |
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3d4ac11
|
Oh, I get it," I said. "You're Evil Harry, lurking inside Good Harry. Right? And you only come out at night?"
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Jim Butcher |
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074de86
|
You're supposed to be a spirit of intellect. I don't understand why you're obsessed with sex." Bob's voice got defensive. "It's an academic interest, Harry." "Oh yeah? Well maybe I don't think it's fair to let your academia go peeping in other people's houses." "Wait a minute. My academia doesn't -" I held up a hand. "Save it. I don't want to hear it." He grunted. "You're trivializing what getting out for a bit means to me, Harry. You're ..
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funny
bob
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Jim Butcher |
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6e2d84d
|
I felt like I had just double-tapped Santa.
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Jim Butcher |
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1a5ed6b
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One thing about intimidation is that people can always think up something worse that you could do to them than you can, if you leave their imagination some room to play.
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Jim Butcher |
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e52c023
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I brought the Beetle to life with a roar. Well. Not really a roar. A Volkswagen Bug doesn't roar. But it sort of growled...
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Jim Butcher |
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baf03a6
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The cold rain came down in buckets. I was shaking, shivering, and naked, and more soap was getting into my eyes. But hey. At least I was clean.
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Jim Butcher |
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65a0a37
|
It's hard to think when someone's trying to kill you. We human beings aren't wired to be rational and creative when we know our lives are in danger of a swift and violent end. The body has definite ideas of which survival strategies it prefers to embrace, and those are generally limited to "rip threat to pieces" or "run like hell." No thinking need be involved, as far as our instincts are concerned. Our instincts were a long time in the mak..
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survival-instinct
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Jim Butcher |
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9ce2abd
|
You wouldn't be twisting yourself into knots like this, Harry, if you didn't care." "So?" "Monsters don't care," Michael said. "The damned don't care, Harry. The only way to go beyond redemption is to choose to take yourself there. The only way to do it is to stop caring."
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Jim Butcher |
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5a4d106
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I've often wished that I had some suave and socially acceptable hobby that I could fall back on in times like this. You know, play the violin (or was it the viola) like Sherlock Holmes, or maybe twiddle away on the pipe organ like the Disney version of Captain Nemo. But I don't. I'm sort of the arcane equivalent of a classic computer geek. I do magic, in one form or another, and that's pretty much it. I really need to get a life, one of the..
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Jim Butcher |
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62cdc27
|
Thomas looked like he was about to talk some smack at the malk, but only for a second. Then he frowned and said, "It's odd. You sound like...like a grade-school teacher." "Perhaps it is because I am speaking to a child," Cat Sith said. "The comparison is apt." Thomas blinked several times and then he looked at me. "Did the evil kitty just call me a child?"
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Jim Butcher |
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9942365
|
Whenever you've got a choice, do good, kiddo. It isn't always fun or easy, but in the long run it makes your life better.
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inspirational
bully
do-good
bullying
bigfoot
bullies
dresden
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Jim Butcher |
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d4b562d
|
Butters," rumbled Skaldi Hair Ball. If he really had broken fingers, it didn't look like they were bothering him much. "When are you going to get in this ring and train like a man?" "About five minutes after I get a functional lightsaber," Butters replied easily, much to Hair Ball's amusement."
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Jim Butcher |
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f64f1d2
|
Harry?" Bob asked. "Are your feet wet? And can you see the pyramids?" I blinked. "What?" "Earth to Dresden," Bob said. "You are standing knee-deep in de Nile." --
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Jim Butcher |
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ff592d4
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I am cat," Rowl said smugly, "which means I have made better use of my time."
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Jim Butcher |
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e3f1953
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Strength is the first virtue," Alera said. "That is not a pleasant fact. Its distastefulness does not alter the truth that without strength to protect them, all other virtues are ephemeral, ultimately meaningless."
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Jim Butcher |
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4150655
|
Everyone dies, honey," I said, very quietly. "Everyone. There's no 'if.' There's only 'when.'" I let that sink in for a moment. " you die, do you want to feel ashamed of what you've done with your life? Feel ashamed of what your life meant?"
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Jim Butcher |
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ef42248
|
Still going with the phallic foci, eh? Staff and rod?" "They make me feel all manly."
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Jim Butcher |
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8168f8a
|
I checked my gear, my pockets, my shoelaces, and realized that I had crossed the line between making sure I was ready and trying to postpone the inevitable.
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Jim Butcher |
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188a414
|
You're supposed to be a spirit of intellect. I don't understand why you're obsessed with sex." Bob's voice got defensive. "It's an academic interest, Harry." "Oh yeah? Well maybe I don't think it's fair to let your academia go peeping in other people's houses." "Wait a minute. My academia doesn't -" I held up a hand. "Save it. I don't want to hear it." He grunted. "You're trivializing what getting out for a bit means to me, Harry. You're ..
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funny
bob
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Jim Butcher |
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1659001
|
I'm pretty sure lurking in a dark alley to mug me with your apology isn't the usual way to go about saying you're sorry. But I didn't read that Mars-Venus book, so who knows.
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Jim Butcher |
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7029b98
|
Lies. Mab cannot change who you are.
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Jim Butcher |
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5b7fce3
|
No," she said. "You are not Patrick Swayze. I am not Demi Moore." She touched a switch on the little box and it started ticking. "And this sure as hell isn't pottery class."
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ghost
karrin-murphy
patrick-swayze
harry-dresden
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Jim Butcher |
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ca36a8c
|
Booya!" I shouted in pure triumph, the adrenaline turning my manly baritone into a rather terrified-sounding shriek. "What have you got for fiery beams of death, huh? You got for fiery beam of death! Might as well go back to Atari, bug-boy, 'cause you don't got game enough for me!"
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Jim Butcher |
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9cd4c97
|
All right, you primitive screwheads. Listen up. I'm Harry Dresden. I'm the new Winter Knight. I'm instituting a rule: When you're within sight of me, mortals are off-limits." I paused for a moment to let that sink in. Then I continued. "I can't give you orders. I can't control what you do in your own domains. I'm not going to be able to change you. I'm not even going to try. But if I see you abusing a mortal, you'll join Chunky here. Zero w..
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Jim Butcher |
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343a386
|
After a few minutes, Molly came partway up the short ladder to the bridge and stopped. "Do I need to ask permission to come up there or something?" "Why would you?" I asked. She considered. "It's what they do on ?"
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humourous
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Jim Butcher |
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f9a42e2
|
Seedy wasn't a fair description for the place, because seeds imply eventual regrowth and renewal.
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humorous
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Jim Butcher |
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6b9163d
|
Paradox is an overrated threat. There is...a quality similar to inertia at work. Once an event has occurred, there is an extremely strong tendency for that event to occur. The larger, more significant, or more energetic the event, the more it tends to remain as it originally happened, despite any interference." I frowned. "There's...a law of conservation of history?"
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Jim Butcher |
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5ac7cb4
|
And suddenly a shaft of blinding silver-white light three feet long sprang from the broken hilt of Fidelacchius and shone in the first golden light of that day's dawn, humming with the full power of the Sword, only louder now, more melodic, and physically audible.
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Jim Butcher |
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01c23a7
|
For a second, I wanted very badly to know a spell that would let me melt through the floor in a quivering puddle of please-don't-kill-me.
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humor
spell
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Jim Butcher |
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1e1357f
|
Karrin smiled faintly and shook her head. "He always said you knew ghosts. You're sure it was really him?" Mort eyed her. "Me and everyone else, yeah." Karrin scowled and stared into the middle distance. Mort frowned and then his expression softened. "You didn't want it to be his ghost. Did you?" Murphy shook her head slowly, but said nothing. "You needed everyone to be wrong about it. Because if it really was his ghost," Mort said, "it mea..
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Jim Butcher |
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dc2e6f9
|
Animals do not do what they have done. Animals kill to eat, to defend themselves or their own, and to protect their territory. Not for the joy of it. Not for the lust of it...Only humans do that, wizard.
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Jim Butcher |
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8681ac5
|
Please, help me. Young werewolves in love. I turned to walk into the house, moving carefully. I had never much believed in God. Well, that's not quite true. I believed that there was a God, or something close enough to it to warrant the name if there were demons, there had to be angels, right? If there was a Devil, somewhere, there had to be a God. But He & I had never really seen things in quite the same terms. All the same. I flashed a lo..
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moon
files
fool-moon
jim
dresden
fool
|
Jim Butcher |
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db12be4
|
I know you've been aching to have your hands on my staff," I said to Ascher, as Nicodemus examined the altar for himself. I held out my hand. "But I'd rather be the one fondling my tool. Wizards are weird like that." "Wow," she said, and flashed me a grin, her face flushed, excited. "You left me nowhere to go with that one. I have nothing to add."
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Jim Butcher |
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786a61f
|
Yes, I was standing on nothing but congealed starlight. Yes, I was walking up through a savage storm, the wind threatening to tear me off and throw me into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan far below. Yes, I was using a legendary and enchanted means of travel to transcend the border between one dimension and the next, and on my way to an epic struggle between ancient and elemental forces. But all i could think to say, between panting bre..
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summer-knight
jim-butcher
sarcasm
|
Jim Butcher |
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ed6fb03
|
In Chicago, you can't swing a cat without hitting an Irish pub (and angering the cat), but McAnally's place stands out from the crowd.
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swinging-a-cat
|
Jim Butcher |
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5e4bcb1
|
You beg fate to make your fears into reality, Aleran. But for the moment, they are only fears. They may come. If so, then face them and overcome them. Until then, pay them no mind. You have enough to think on.
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fate
reality
fears
jim-butcher
|
Jim Butcher |