Dresden Files Battle Ground Quotes

The real battle for your own soul isn't about falling from a great height; it's about descending, or not, one choice at a time.

When a group comes together around something they love,” I said, “it changes things. It changes how they see one another. It becomes a community. Something greater than the sum of its parts.

Speak for yourself,” Murphy said. “I just gave my last grenade to a Valkyrie and ordered her to blow up a kraken. I’m having a ball.

We’ve got a goddamned wizard! Fuck those guys!

War leaves you precious little time to be human. It’s one of the more horrible realities about it.

You!” I said, relishing the moment. “Shall not! Pass!

Death isn’t when your body stops working. It’s when there’s no more future. When you can’t see past right now, because you stopped believing in tomorrow.

When it gets here, we’ll run out and dance in it,” I said. “Why?” Maggie asked. “If we don’t, life has just as much rain,” I said, “but way less dancing.

Good man,” I said. “You’re handling this well.” “I am not,” Bradley said without slowing his steps. “I am not.” “Then you are freaking out in the most useful way possible,” I said. “Keep it up.

Doesn’t matter where you go in the world—if you’re good at your job, people who are good enough at theirs to see it will respect you for it.

Everyone,” she said, “thinks that hate and love are somehow opposite forces. They are not. They are the same force, facing opposite directions.” She glanced aside at me. “Love is a fire, my Knight. Love turned the wrong way has killed as many as hate. Reason, young wizard, is the opposite of hate, not love.

Lightning struck, a hawk cried in fury, and then a goddamned grizzly bear fell out of the night sky and onto Ethniu’s head. Don’t care how Titanic you are. No one expects an orbital-drop grizzly.

Nothing you ever do can change the past. Can’t live your life looking backwards or you’ll spend it walking in circles.

The hour when you sit up in bed, sweating from nightmares. The hour when you awaken for no reason but to fear the future. The hour when you stare at the clock, willing yourself to sleep, knowing it isn’t going to happen, and weariness and despair beat upon the doors to the vaults of your mind with leaden clubs. That’s when an apocalypse begins: the witching hour.

I couldn’t ever remember actually doing more than waving at this guy as I went past. I was pretty sure I hadn’t ever introduced my dog. How did he know Mouse’s name? Damned pooch is more a of people person than I’ll ever be.

Do you remember the hardest lesson of power?” “Knowing when not to use it?

There are a lot of ways to get ready for trouble. You get ready to fight. That’s one of them. But it’s even more important that you build something worth fighting for.

I hate that you're here with me,” I said. "I know." "And I'm glad that you're here with me.” "I know.

My scrotum attempted to travel back in time.

Everyone thinks that hate and love are somehow opposite forces. They are not. They are the same force, facing opposite directions... Love turned the wrong way has killed as many as hate.

I might be the dumb kid with the sledgehammer from his father’s toolshed, compared to the sword-saint samurai who were the Senior Council—but I had discovered, in my time, that no matter how skilled and elegant a foe might be, a sledgehammer to the skull is a sledgehammer to the skull.

Good, because your mother says you’re not getting out of helping in the kitchen just because you’re a faerie princess now. She got you those long kitchen gloves so that you can still wash dishes.

I am Harry, son of Malcolm," I shouted back. "I have battled dark sorcerers and black knights! I have fought men and beasts in numbers too great for counting, invaded the heart of Winter, confronted necromancers and the living dead, vampires and ghouls and demons in their hordes endless! I have matched wits with the six Queens of Faerie and prevailed, and thwarted the combined will of the White Council! When they came for my child, I smote the Red Court of Vampires, and laid them in ruin for all the world to see. I am Harry, son of Malcolm, and I have entered the vaults of Tartarus, and stolen its treasures beneath the gaze of Hades himself! And I'm about to add giant slaying to my résumé.

Eventually, it’s better to go forward into it and have things settled than to huddle in terror for one second longer.

An old hatred. The hardest kind to resist.

dredged up a quote from someone I rarely agreed with about anything. “What’s the point of free will, if not to spit in the eye of destiny?

We all must die, Dresden. There is no shame in dying for something worthwhile.

Some things should hurt. Some things should leave you with scars. Some things should haunt your nightmares. Some things should be burned into memory. Because that was the only way to make sure that they would be fought. It was the only way to face them. It was the only way to cast down the future agents of death and havoc before they could bring things to this. The words never again mean more to some people than others.

Some things should hurt. Some things should leave you with scars. Some things should haunt your nightmares. Some things should be burned into memory.

Fight like a woman, my ass,” Murphy muttered darkly,

Harry, I must say,” Toot-Toot said, dropping his voice to a stage sotto voce, “that’s frozen pizza. What are you doing?” “It’s symbolic pizza,” I said. “Symbolic pizza sucks!” Toot shouted. “None of it is good for you,” Lacuna insisted. “Guys!” I said. “The pizza—all the pizza—is in danger!” That got their attention. Toot-Toot whirled to face me in horror. “What?!” Lacuna’s face suffused with joy. “What!?” I gave them the kindergarten-level, probably cheaply animated rundown on who Ethniu was. “And now,” I concluded, “she’s coming here to kill all the people.” “Uh-huh,” Toot said, nodding, listening, completely supportive. “And me,” I said. “Uh-huh,” Toot said, brightly, waiting. “And all the pizza shops,” I said. “Oh no!” Toot wailed. He buzzed in a vertical circle. “Oh no, oh no, oh no!

More rain coming,” Maggie said. “When it gets here, we’ll run out and dance in it,” I said. “Why?” Maggie asked. “If we don’t, life has just as much rain,” I said, “but way less dancing.” “You’re silly, Dad.

The man closed his eyes for a moment. Then he whispered, “My little girl was born early yesterday. She’s still in the hospital. They couldn’t move her.” “Well,” I said. “That makes it pretty simple. But that’s not the same thing as easy, is it.

People who are scared need to laugh, and the scarier things are, the more they need it.

We didn’t charge into the fray so much as aggressively shamble.

I liked it way better when I could just be openly defiant, rather than being forced to resort to reason.

Compartmentalize and conquer.

The words never again mean more to some people than others.

I’m not saying pain is what defines us as human beings. But it is, in many ways, what unites us.

Ah. Destiny is a . . . stone-cold bitch.

And for a time, there was nothing else to be done. I wept. And the city burned.

I wonder what it says about me that pizza has been one of the better long-term investments in my career.

They say civilization is a thin veneer over barbarism. Chicago stood waiting for the first tearing sound.

Marcone’s eyes widened. One of his hands twitched. “And the adults let you have it?

Because nothing cuts through bullshit like a proper fireball.

The Fomor had released the freaking kraken.

You can't fix tomorrow until it gets here.” “Which is weird, because you can screw it up from decades away.

Lara said. “They’re smart, skilled, dedicated, professional, they’ve got several centuries of collective knowledge through the Masons, and they will absolutely be coming to learn whatever they can. They are extremely dangerous.

I used to wonder how people could run forward into things like that. I think it’s about the environment. There’s just too much confusion, too much fear, too much pain, to think rationally. It’s not a rational place. When death is all around, forward can get to looking like a pretty good way out. And humans can only bear tension, fear, and worry for so long. We aren’t built to sit quietly under such burdens. We’re built to go out and deal with whatever is causing them. We aren’t built to sit and take it. We were made to take action. Eventually, too much pressure will bring a willing fight out of anybody. Even in a nightmare hellscape. Or especially in a nightmare hellscape. Eventually, it’s better to go forward into it and have things settled than to huddle in terror for one second longer.

You’ll never value information that comes to you easily.

And I had a hole in my chest that was going to take time to heal. But after a lot of time, and hurt, it would heal.

The thing about creatures as big as the Jotun is that they come without power steering.

Apocalypses always kick off at the witching hour.

You don’t exactly sleep, in situations like that. You close your eyes and stop moving, and then a lot of complicated things happen in your brain.

Her chin lifted, and her hard, cold eyes flickered in naked, unconcealed pride. “Never once in your life, my Knight, have you taken the easy road. I chose well.

Mab glanced at me wearily. “You know what it is,” she said, “to sell pieces of your soul so that someone who will never know your name will have another chance at life.

But Death plays no favorites and makes no exceptions.

Two weeks,” Rawlins muttered as I left. “Gonna die of cliché poisoning.

me

Tonight, he is the enemy of my enemy.” Toot gasped and gripped his spear more tightly. “A double enemy!

Trouble was coming. Murphy was gone. And I had a hole in my chest that was going to take time to heal. But after a lot of time, and hurt, it would heal. And right now, I was about to have a nice meal with people who cared about me, and about one another. There are a lot of ways to get ready for trouble. You get ready to fight. That’s one of them. But it’s even more important that you build something worth fighting for.

Graceland is, in many ways, Chicago’s memory. The graves there mark the resting places of titans of industry, holy men, gangsters, politicians, near saints, and madmen and murderers. Tales of tragedy, of vast hubris, of bitter greed and steadfast love, are represented in the markers that stand over the graves of thousands.

And everyone you’ll ever face in a battle to the death is undefeated.

Fuel a love spell with rage and you’re likely to get some odd side effects, for example.

When the Queens of Summer and Winter took to the same field, there were always storms.

Great, grinding thunder raised its voice in a throaty roar, and the air turned to falling water.

It’s our common enemy, though it isn’t, really, an enemy. Pain is, at least when our bodies are working properly, a teacher. A really tough, really strict, and perfectly fair teacher.

She wasn’t even trying to keep things subtle.

But it’s even more important that you build something worth fighting for.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except me and Mouse.

The hour when you sit up in bed, sweating from nightmares. The hour when you awaken for no reason but to fear the future. The hour when you stare at the clock, willing yourself to sleep, knowing it isn’t going to happen, and weariness and despair beat upon the doors to the vaults of your mind with leaden clubs.

Granted, the battle harness and the P90 she carried (illegally, if that mattered at this point) made her a little lumpier and pointier than the dictates of romance typically mandated for a love interest, but all things considered, I didn’t mind.

it left me suspended uncomfortably, stretched out between the overwhelming opposing forces, just trying to hang on. Story of my freaking life.

Any will can be broken.

Immortality offers a significant advantage, but it is no substitute for intelligence. Remember that, young wizard.

Do you know the difference between courage and foolhardiness, Dresden?” “Any insurance adjuster would say no.” He waved a hand at my banter, as though that was all the acknowledgment it deserved. “Hindsight,” he said. “Until the extended consequences of any action are known, it is both courageous and foolish. And neither.” “Well,” I said, “tonight you earned yourself a Schrödinger’s Medal, I guess.

Just out of curiosity,” I said, “is it going to be possible for her to freeze someone’s heart and turn them into an ice statue?” Mab looked baffled.

Knock-knock,” I said. Drakul frowned down at me and arched an eyebrow. “Oh, come on,” I said. “Here I am facing death and telling you a knock-knock joke. Why would I do such a thing?” I gave him the best grin I could while clenching my teeth. “Eternity is a long time to wonder about a punch line. Knock-knock.” “Who,” said Drakul, in his mellifluous accent, his eyes narrowed, “is there?” “Thousand-pound gorilla,” I rasped. “Thousand-pound gorilla who?” asked Drakul. And River Shoulders roared and hit him with a twelve-foot-long concrete obelisk.

terrified. What it does to you to see the power of darkness,

Bob,” I said. “We’re going to bind a Titan.” “Fuck that!” the skull sputtered. “I’m going to Utah!

It is a unicorn,” Mab said, “not a . . . ride-sharing service.

Apocalypse isn’t an event,” Nemesis murmured. “It is a frame of mind.

Bad guys from my side of the street have decided to destroy Chicago. And every monster and weirdo in Chicago has turned out to fight them.

Murphy squeezed back. “Harry. You can’t fix tomorrow until it gets here.” “Which is weird, because you can screw it up from decades away.

Gotta tell you, Murph,” I sighed back. “I got a bad feeling about this.” “Speak for yourself,” Murphy said. “I just gave my last grenade to a Valkyrie and ordered her to blow up a kraken. I’m having a ball.

The creation of the community encourages investment in that community,” I said. “Once they’ve invested, they’ll fight to protect it.

If you tell anyone about this, Dresden,” she said, “I will murder you slowly. With dental implements.

The opening notes of the Guns N’ Roses hit “Welcome to the Jungle” began to echo from the buildings behind us, Slash’s guitar sending those tones bouncing around the concrete and towers, somehow resonating with the steel and stone of the streets and buildings of the city. Chicago herself became the speaker, music ringing off every surface, setting the ground to quivering in resonance.

Let the deep things stay deep.

And we owe them the gesture of helping to make their future more secure after what we took from them.

I’m not saying pain is what defines us as human beings. But it is, in many ways, what unites us. We all recognize other people in pain.

spun back to the enemy, brought my shield up—and stood tall. “You!” I said, relishing the moment. “Shall not! Pass!

Kill the bridge, dammit!” I shouted back. I heard the Sword of Faith come alight in his hands, and a glance over my shoulder showed him hacking through the bridge at his feet as if it had been made of so many soap bubbles. I spun back to the enemy, brought my shield up—and stood tall. “You!” I said, relishing the moment. “Shall not! Pass!” They replied with a hail of automatic weapons fire. The impacts against my shield all but blinded me.

Apocalypse isn't an event, it is a state of mind

Apocalypse isn't an event, it is a frame of mind

There’s no cold like the cold of dark water. It’s . . . almost a predator, a living thing, and you can feel it ripping the heat out of you the instant you’re immersed in it.

Maybe the process of becoming something horrible wasn’t about temptation to sin, forbidden delights, and bad impulse control. Maybe it was about choosing to throw your soul into a meat grinder, over and over again. Until what remained couldn’t even be seen as a soul any longer. Maybe the real monsters, the big bad monsters, aren’t created. They’re forged. Hammered. One blow at a time.

Immortality offers a significant advantage, but it is no substitute for intelligence.

Apocalypses always kick off at the witching hour. That’s something you know now.

Ever heard a pack of wolves growling in anger? It’s less than restful.