“According to some, heroic deaths are admirable things. I've never been convinced by this argument, mainly because, no matter how cool, stylish, composed, unflappable, manly, or defiant you are, at the end of the day you're also dead. Which is a little too permanent for my liking.”
―
Jonathan Stroud,
Ptolemy's Gate
“One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“A dozen more questions occurred to me. Not to mention twenty-two possible solutions to each one, sixteen resulting hypotheses and counter-theorems, eight abstract speculations, a quadrilateral equation, two axioms, and a limerick. That's raw intelligence for you.” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Can you define "plan" as "a loose sequence of manifestly inadequate observations and conjectures, held together by panic, indecision, and ignorance"? If so, it was a very good plan.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon
“Check out that one at the end. He's taken the form of a footstool. Weird...but somehow I like his style.""That is a footstool.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Golem's Eye
“And then, as if written by the hand of a bad novelist, an incredible thing happened.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Watch where you leave your victims! I stubbed my toe on that.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Hey, we've all got problems, chum. I'm overly talkative. You look like a field of buttercups in a suit.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Golem's Eye
“Freedom is an illusion. It always comes at a price.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Bartimaeus Trilogy Boxed Set
“That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans...it made no difference.I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Really?""No. I'm being ironic. Or is it sarcastic? I can never remember.""Irony's cleverer, so you're probably being sarcastic.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Screaming Staircase
“A typical master. Right to the end, he didn’t give me a chance to get a word in edgeways. Which is a pity, because at that last moment I’d have liked to tell him what I thought of him. Mind you, since in that split second we were, to all intents and purposes, one and the same, I rather think he knew anyway.” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Besides, if you're going to die horribly, you might as well do it with style.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon
“I had a chance at him now. Things were a bit more even. He knew my name, I knew his. He had six years' experience, I had five thousand and ten. That was the kind of odds that you could do something with.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Believe me, I know all about bottle acoustics. I spent much of the sixth century in an old sesame oil jar, corked with wax, bobbing about in the Red Sea. No one heard my hollers. In the end an old fisherman set me free, by which time I was desperate enough to grant him several wishes. I erupted in the form of a smoking giant, did a few lightning bolts, and bent to ask him his desire. Poor old boy had dropped dead of a heart attack. There should be a moral there, but for the life of me I can't see one.” ― Jonathan Stroud
“Jabor finally appeared at the top of the stairs, sparks of flame radiating from his body and igniting the fabric of the house around him. He caught sight of the boy, reached out his hand and stepped forward.And banged his head nicely on the low-slung attic door.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Creeping Shadow
“Much has happened since last we met, Bartimaeus," he went on. "Do you remember how we parted?""No." I did."You set light to me, old friend. Struck a match and left me burning in a copse."The crow shifted uneasily beneath the cleaver."That's a gesture of endearment in some cultures. Some hug, some kiss, some set each other on fire in small patches of woodland...” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Minor magicians take pains to fit this traditional wizardly bill. By contrast, the really powerful magicians take pleasure in looking like accountants.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“One magician demanded I show him an image of the love of his life. I rustled up a mirror.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“A dozen more questions occurred to me. Not to mention twenty-two possible solutions to each one, sixteen resulting hypotheses and counter-theorems, eight abstract speculations, a quadrilateral equation, two axioms, and a limerick. That's raw intelligence for you.” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Can you define "plan" as "a loose sequence of manifestly inadequate observations and conjectures, held together by panic, indecision, and ignorance"? If so, it was a very good plan.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon
“Check out that one at the end. He's taken the form of a footstool. Weird...but somehow I like his style.""That is a footstool.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Golem's Eye
“And then, as if written by the hand of a bad novelist, an incredible thing happened.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Watch where you leave your victims! I stubbed my toe on that.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Hey, we've all got problems, chum. I'm overly talkative. You look like a field of buttercups in a suit.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Golem's Eye
“Freedom is an illusion. It always comes at a price.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Bartimaeus Trilogy Boxed Set
“That did it. I'd gone through a lot in the past few days. Everyone I met seemed to want a piece of me: djinn, magicians, humans...it made no difference.I'd been summoned, manhandled, shot at, captured, constricted, bossed about and generally taken for granted. And now, to cap it all, this bloke is joining in too, when all I'd been doing was quietly trying to kill him.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Really?""No. I'm being ironic. Or is it sarcastic? I can never remember.""Irony's cleverer, so you're probably being sarcastic.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Screaming Staircase
“A typical master. Right to the end, he didn’t give me a chance to get a word in edgeways. Which is a pity, because at that last moment I’d have liked to tell him what I thought of him. Mind you, since in that split second we were, to all intents and purposes, one and the same, I rather think he knew anyway.” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Besides, if you're going to die horribly, you might as well do it with style.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon
“I had a chance at him now. Things were a bit more even. He knew my name, I knew his. He had six years' experience, I had five thousand and ten. That was the kind of odds that you could do something with.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Believe me, I know all about bottle acoustics. I spent much of the sixth century in an old sesame oil jar, corked with wax, bobbing about in the Red Sea. No one heard my hollers. In the end an old fisherman set me free, by which time I was desperate enough to grant him several wishes. I erupted in the form of a smoking giant, did a few lightning bolts, and bent to ask him his desire. Poor old boy had dropped dead of a heart attack. There should be a moral there, but for the life of me I can't see one.” ― Jonathan Stroud
“Jabor finally appeared at the top of the stairs, sparks of flame radiating from his body and igniting the fabric of the house around him. He caught sight of the boy, reached out his hand and stepped forward.And banged his head nicely on the low-slung attic door.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
“Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Creeping Shadow
“Much has happened since last we met, Bartimaeus," he went on. "Do you remember how we parted?""No." I did."You set light to me, old friend. Struck a match and left me burning in a copse."The crow shifted uneasily beneath the cleaver."That's a gesture of endearment in some cultures. Some hug, some kiss, some set each other on fire in small patches of woodland...” ― Jonathan Stroud, Ptolemy's Gate
“Minor magicians take pains to fit this traditional wizardly bill. By contrast, the really powerful magicians take pleasure in looking like accountants.” ― Jonathan Stroud, The Amulet of Samarkand
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