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Ben Aaronovitch
224 quotes
“From a policing point of view, guns are a pain. Once someone is known to be tooled up, your operational priorities are suddenly fucked up. It all becomes about managing whoever was stupid enough to pull a gun in central London and your number one priority is public safety, followed closely by officer safety and then, not so closely, by the safety of the moron with the gun.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ABC of policing literally goes: Assume nothing, Believe no-one, Check everything.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And having made sure my attention was focused in one direction the universe, which likes a good laugh, smacked me in the face from the other side.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The media always calls this sort of thing senseless, but the motive made sense—it was just stupid, is what it was.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After a slow start the police have taken to mobile technology in a big way—mainly because it means you can pretend to work anywhere: at home, the canteen, the local boozer.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Police doctrine is, even if you’re waiting for someone to do something violent to your suspect, you should de-escalate the situation because at the very least a peaceful solution produces a ton less paperwork.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The main purpose of an administrative meeting is to establish collective guilt for whatever fuck-up arises out of its decisions.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ask not for whom the buck stops, I thought, it stops for thee.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Somebody’s lying,” I said, which got me a look of amused indulgence from Stephanopoulos and a snort from Seawoll. Of course somebody was lying—we were the police—somebody was always lying to us.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flexible,” I said. “Meaning we’re making it up as we go along.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hyde Park Corner is what happens when a bunch of urban planners take one look at the grinding circle of gridlock that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and think—that’s what we want for our town.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now, personally, I’d have been happier driving an armored personnel carrier in through the front door. But since we’re the Met, and not the police department of a small town in Missouri, we didn’t have one.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Peter,” said Tyburn. “I need you to stop just pretending to be clever and actually be clever.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A promise is a promise, or as Nightingale put it, “either your word is good or it’s worthless.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nice,” said Abigail. “Very plausible.” “Yeah, but just because it’s plausible doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” I said. “I was gathering intelligence.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The railway hit Harrow on the Hill in 1880 and it’s been downhill ever since, culminating in one of those formless red brick shopping centres which artfully combines a complete lack of aesthetic quality with a total disregard for the utilitarian function for which it is built.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here the bland 1930s art deco stylings of the station gave way to the horror that was the 1980s where every public building was deliberately crafted to look as much like a urinal as possible.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve always believed that my dad is right about one thing—your life is your solo and whatever song you choose to sing you only get to do it once.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nightingale has always been reluctant to let me loose on the library and I must have frowned or something because he went on, “My worry with you, Peter, is not what you would learn but that, should you go into the library, you might never emerge again.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I didn’t dare ask because we have an unspoken agreement—I don’t question what she does on my computer when I’m out and, in return, she doesn’t murder me in my sleep.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The house was neat and well cared for, but to my eye the Heywoods were losing the battle against the four-year-old agent of entropy who was living with them”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you’re four, forever and ever can mean yesterday.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You see, the trouble with detectives is that they’re detectives and are literally trained not to believe anything they haven’t verified themselves.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Or my gut was wrong. Confirmation bias has put more innocent people in prison than malice.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like when you kiss me,” she said. “Is it enjoyable because of the physical sensation or is it because you think it should be enjoyable?” Good question, and we quickly developed experimental protocol which unfortunately left us too knackered to record our results properly and thus invalidated any conclusions. We have faith in the methodology, though, and continue to repeat the experiment on a regular basis. And people say science is dull.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dedication: This book is dedicated to all the people whose job it is to rush into danger when everybody else is running in the other direction.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They’re all so ridiculously young,” said Nightingale. “They” were mostly Police Staff, what we’re not supposed to call civilian workers any more—analysts and data entry specialists—who’d got the boot when the government decided that in the light of an increased security threat what London needed was a smaller police force.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Guleed went home because she has, she says, a deep and mystical understanding of the work-life balance. A concept I once tried explaining to Nightingale with the aid of the big whiteboard in the visitors' lounge. I think he grasped it in the end, and said he was all in favour as long as I understood that this in no way applied to apprentices.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I checked in the next morning to see if we knew the whereabouts of Zachary Palmer, the demi-monde's very own go-to guy for ducking and diving, bar work, fixing and general dishonesty. Due to a lucrative consultation contract with Crossrail, currently worth three hundred large a year, he didn't actually have to do any ducking and diving. That he still fiddled his change and sold dodgy goods on the Portobello Road while the money piled up in a low interest building society account seemed to wind up Seawoll no end.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Few buildings evoke the sinister horror of 1950s municipal architecture more strikingly than the flat roofed pub. Thrown up in their thousands wherever the working class were being rehoused, it’s hard to imagine that the architects were not secret teetotallers looking to make the whole pub experience as grim as possible.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I asked whether the High Fae came into the pub. Lulu gave me a crooked smile. “High Fae?” She asked. “You know,” I said. “The gentry, elves, those posh gits with extradimensional castles, stone spears and unicorns.” “You mean them what step between worlds?” “Could be.” “Who walk on paths unseen and wax and wane with the moon?” “Them sort of people,” I said. “Yeah.” “Not in here, squire,” she said. “I run a respectable pub.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I asked Oxley to ask Beverley to bring Abigail home. Then I showered, changed and drove back to London. And if you're the woman who, driving along the A4155 that afternoon, found herself inexplicably picking up a pair of hitchhikers and driving them all the way into London, I'm really, really sorry - I assumed Beverley would organise a lift from one of her relatives.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anyone who’s taken statements from multiple witnesses to the same event will know how malleable memory is.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Despite being the oldest part of London, the Square Mile has a faster architectural churn than anywhere else in the city. Occasionally it throws up something exciting, innovative and modern…but mostly it doesn’t. Architects like a bit of volume, and financiers like floor space. The easiest way to maximize both is to build a cube—which is why ninety-nine per cent of all office buildings are boxes with lobbies.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing attracts the powerful quite like more power.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These people are not to be trusted,” I said. “These people?” “People with…” I looked over at the poshest person I’ve ever met and tried to think of the right word. “Entitlement,” I said. “They’re not good at keeping promises.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That at least we can leave to Abdul and the irrepressible Dr Vaughan," said Nightingale. "Who no doubt will be delighted to extend the boundaries of their empire of information." "Their knowledge base," I said. "I believe that's what I said.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Upstairs, MOLA’s offices had the same open-plan cubicle based workspace that has been the delight of code monkeys and low-level paper pushers since one time and motion consultant said to another, “Hey, you know, I don’t think we’ve really dehumanized these white collar drones enough.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Foxholes might breed belief, but trench systems are full of fatalistic cynics.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Aaronovitch (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source