Winter's Gifts Quotes

“My decision to apply to be a special agent crept up on me some time between the case of the spontaneously exploding tractor and the cows that ate Paris, Arkansas.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris. It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured. Publius Cornelius Tacitus”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“There’s a classic interview strategy that works particularly well with college-educated criminals—particularly academics. You tell them everything you know, and half the time they can’t resist interrupting you to tell you where you’ve gone wrong.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“The land is broken, the world is unfair, and the innocent suffer terrible blows,” said the boy. And then he smiled, and I felt the warmth of him like the sun rising over a spring pasture. “I can’t fix everything, so I do the best I can.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“The British had made it clear they didn’t want to see them again on pain of sarcasm.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“That’s the joy of meteorology,” he said. “There’s vast areas of doubt and uncertainty.” “For example?” “Lightning,” he said. “We don’t know what causes it.” “Yes we do.” “No we don’t.” “Really?” “Really.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“But an old friend of mine in New Hampshire…” The stress she put on the words “old friend” indicated that she was talking about a fellow witch. “They said that there were indications that some of the bears there might be manifestations.” Manifestations was Cymbeline-speak for the spirit or god of a locality. What my British colleague Peter Grant would call a genius loci—which is just a fancy way of saying “local spirit”.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts

“It was the kind of place that served avocado toast, and your coffee arrived in its own press with a little card describing the country of origin and how it was ethically sourced. They did manage to serve a good quarter-pounder without adding either kale or quinoa—but you could tell they really wanted to.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Winter's Gifts