Genevieve Cogman > Quotes

“The atmosphere of the place soothed her automatically; the rich lantern lights, the sheer scent of paper and leather, and the fact that everywhere she looked, there were books, books, beautiful books.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Johnson! Have I committed any illegal actions?'
Johnson checked his watch. 'Not within the last three minutes, sir.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“and the deepest, most fundamental part of her life involved a love of books. 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.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“We have to report this."

Kai sighed deeply in relief. "I was afraid you were going to say that we had to investigate it ourselves."

"Don't be ridiculous," Irene said briskly. "We may collect fiction, but we are not required to imitate the stupider parts of it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“I have spent most of my life preferring books to people,’ Irene said sharply. ‘Just because I like a few specific people doesn’t change anything.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Burning Page

“Irene made a private mental resolution that if she ever became a queen, her throne would incorporate a cushion. Also a convenient bookcase.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Lost Plot

“We are the Library," Coppelia pointed out. "What we don't know, we research.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“How?' Irene enquired. She'd decided a while back that Socratic reasoning was a good idea, because (a) it got students thinking for them selves, (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.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“She was a Librarian, and the deepest, most fundamental part of her life involved a love of books. 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,”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“This is a place built to store books, by people who wanted to preserve books, and used by people who want to read those books. I am not alone.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“And at that moment the alligators burst into the room.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“The perfect Librarian is calm, cool, collected, intelligent, multilingual, a crack shot, a martial artist, an Olympic-level runner (at both the sprint and marathon), a good swimmer, an expert thief, and a genius con artist. They can steal a dozen books from a top-security strongbox in the morning, discuss literature all afternoon, have dinner with the cream of society in the evening, and then stay up until midnight dancing, before stealing some more interesting tomes at three a.m. That's what a perfect Librarian would do. In practice, most Librarians would rather spend their time reading a good book.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“And she didn’t want great secrets of necromancy, or any other sort of magic. She just wanted—had always wanted—a good book to read. Being chased by hellhounds and blowing things up were comparatively unimportant parts of the job.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Remind me why I took this job,’ Kai muttered. ‘People pointed guns at you. Right?’ ‘Yeah. Something like that.’ ‘And you like books.’ She glanced sidelong at him. He flashed a quick, genuine smile at her. ‘Yeah. That would be it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“We also wish to make it absolutely clear that Librarians should not attempt to use the Library to transport dinosaur eggs. And if they do disregard this rule, under no circumstances should they draw official in-world attention while doing so. In fact, we wish to remind all Librarians that they are here to collect books, not dinosaurs. Those Librarians who have problems distinguishing between the two should take a refresher course in Library basics.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Burning Page

“Belgium always seems to get invaded, fall prey to meteorites or get infested by alien fungus or something . . .”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“And Irene hadn’t broken the letter of any ordinances – she hoped. She’d just jumped up and down on the spirit of them, then taken them down a dark alley and made some pointed suggestions at knife-point.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Apparently Lord Wyndham did regularly donate books to various museums around London. They were usually ones which he had collected earlier, but which were no longer of interest to him or his associates. Irene twitched at the very notion. Give books away? How very frivolous, she finally said.”
― Genevieve Cogman

“Involvements with glamorous female cat burglars never end up well.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“no strategy ever survived contact with the enemy. Or, in the vernacular, Things Will Go Wrong. Be Prepared.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“And then they were inside, and out of the wind, and surrounded by comforting walls and walls of books. The rich, delightful smell of old paper, leather and ink permeated the place, washing away the pettier odours of blood and oil and smog.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Stories matter - telling them, sharing them, preserving them, changing them, learning from them, and escaping with and through them. We learn about ourselves and the world that we live in through fiction just as much as through facts. Empathy, perception and understanding are never wasted. All libraries are a gateway into other worlds, including the past - and the future.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Secret Chapter

“..all of us who are sealed to the Library are people who have chosen this way of life because we love books. None of us wanted to save worlds. I mean, not that we object to saving worlds..." She shrugged, picking up her teacup again "We want books. We love books. We live with books.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Kai might be very non-judgemental when it came to personal gender roles, but he was extremely superior when explaining how non-judgemental he was. “I”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Burning Page

“Irene didn’t dignify his question with an answer. Besides, he’d learn better. A Librarian’s mission to seek out books for the Library developed, after a few years, into an urge to find out everything that was going on around one. It wasn’t even a personal curiosity. It was a simple, impersonal, uncontrollable need to know. One came to terms with it. She lifted off the Canopic jar’s stylized jackal-head lid. ‘There’s something in here,’ she reported.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“We don’t want to be stuck on the train with nothing to read.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Lost Plot

“She just wanted - had always wanted - a good book to read. Being chased by hellhounds and blowing things up were comparatively unimportant parts of the job. Getting the books - now, that was what *really* mattered to her.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Panic is the last thing we can afford,” Coppelia said. “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.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Burning Page

“She remembered the conversation in the Library, as forgetting was the last thing a fully-trained Librarian should do. Memories were as important as books, and almost as important as proper indexing.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“Or possibly possessiveness was a characteristic of draconic affection. They were supposed to be hoarders, after all. Not so different from Librarians.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library