Quote

For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time. Still, it was a close call.

Ben Aaronovitch

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Ben Aaronovitch
Age: 60
Author
Businessperson
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Inner and Outer London
Still
Remembered
Going
English
Time
Close
Call
Moment
Moments
Fortunately
Thought
Hug
Stills
Terrifying

More quotes by Ben Aaronovitch

Image
Questions would be asked. Answers would be ignored.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
It's a sad fact of modern life that if you drive long enough, sooner or later you must leave London behind.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
You know, your species [humans] has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity in trying to destroy itself.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
...don't ask me why I know what an Edwardian smoking jacket looks like: let's just say it has something to do with Doctor Who and leave it at that.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Landscaping is the great cardinal sin of modern architecture. It's not your garden, it's not a park - it's a formless patch of grass, shrubbery and the occasional tree that exists purely to stop the original developer's plans from looking like a howling concrete wilderness.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
This is your brain on magic.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
What do you think you're doing?
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
When you're a boy your life can be measured out as a series of uncomfortable conversations reluctantly initiated by adults in an effort to tell you things that you either already know or really don't want to know.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
On the plus side, there were no rioters in sight but on the minus side this was probably because everywhere I looked was on fire.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Holy paranormal activity, Nightingale - to the Jag mobile.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Carved above the lintel were the words SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST. Science points east, I wondered? Science is portentous, yes? Science protests too much. Scientific potatoes rule. Had I stumbled on the lair of dangerous plant geneticists?
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
The study of the victim is called victimology because everything sounds better with and ology tacked on the end.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
...good-Samaritanism in London is considered an extreme sport - like base-jumping or crocodile-wrestling.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
My dad once told me that the secret to a happy life was never to start something with a girl unless you were willing to follow wherever it led. It's the best piece of advice he has ever given me, and probably the reason I was born.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
This I know for a fact: the reason African women have children is so that there's someone else to do the housework.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
I gave the prescribed Metropolitan Police first greeting. Oi! I said What do you think you're doing?
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
The motto of West African cooking is that if the food doesn't set fire to the tablecloth the cook is being stingy with the pepper.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Conflict resolution,' said Nightingale. 'Is this what they teach at Hendon these days?' 'Yes, sir,' I said. 'But don't worry, they also teach us how to beat people with phone books and the ten best ways to plant evidence.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Are they really gods? I never worry about theological questions, said Nightingale. They exist, they have power and they can breach the Queen's peace - that makes them a police matter.
Ben Aaronovitch
Image
Coffee arrived and the espresso was excellent, like an aromatic electric fence.
Ben Aaronovitch