18 quotes
Anyone who’s taken statements from multiple witnesses to the same event will know how malleable memory is.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Nothing attracts the powerful quite like more power.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
I could see the cartoon slot machine flicker behind his eyes. Nightingale was offering what the ridiculously rich always crave—a chance to be exclusive.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Foxholes might breed belief, but trench systems are full of fatalistic cynics.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
“A romantic,” said Nightingale. “The most dangerous people on earth.”
Lies Sleeping (2018)
I pointed out that, according to Bev, half the ecological disasters in the world occurred when people removed “pests” or predators without thinking through the consequences.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
I’m all for courageous action, in moderation, Peter. But you have an alarming tendency toward heroics.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
The bell sang with the first hammer and screamed with the second. And within the scream I heard a familiar laugh and the jingle of merry bells.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Common sense said I should scarper. But is anyone will tell you, me and common sense have always had an open relationship.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
I found that if you voluntarily take on a chore somebody else doesn’t want to do, they don’t check the results too closely—in case they have to do it again themselves.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
None of this was real.
But I’ve learned that just because something isn’t real doesn’t mean it’s not important.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
We headed off to do some community outreach. This involves meeting people, listening to their stories and memorizing their names and faces in case you have to come back and arrest them at a later date.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Nightingale ignored that thread because when the suspect - I mean interviewee - wants to talk about something it's a good idea to frustrate them a little bit. That way you can get more later than they intended. Seawoll calls it the 'fuck all the cows' interview approach.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
My recent experience trying to explain magic to people who really would rather it didn’t exist has given me an arsenal of euphemisms. I’m particularly proud of “initial incident” although “subjective perception threshold” runs a close second.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Lots of angled struts, planes of glass and random spikes. It was, as architectural theorists like to say, a bold statement and the statement was: “Fuck truth and beauty. We’ve got money and loads of it.”
Lies Sleeping (2018)
This guy [Security Guard] was in a navy suit with an unfortunate orange tie, and was nearing us with the caution of a man on a minimum wage zero hours contract who planned to give his employers exactly what they paid for.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
Most archaeology in London these days is rescue archaeology—projects designed to preserve as much as possible from the relentless cash-driven redevelopment. It’s not a new problem. Ask a medievalist about Victorian cellars or an Iron Age specialist about medieval ploughing—but take snacks, because you’re going to be there for a while.
Lies Sleeping (2018)
This sort of thing is pretty common—people often draw more attention to themselves trying to hide their activities than whatever it was they were up to would. Plus sometimes the cover-up is more illegal than the thing they were covering up. Still, if people were brighter routine police work would be much harder.
Lies Sleeping (2018)