Carol

“We have to report this."

Kai sighed deeply in relief. "I was afraid you were going to say that we had to investigate it ourselves."

"Don't be ridiculous," Irene said briskly. "We may collect fiction, but we are not required to imitate the stupider parts of it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Invisible Library

“And Irene hadn’t broken the letter of any ordinances – she hoped. She’d just jumped up and down on the spirit of them, then taken them down a dark alley and made some pointed suggestions at knife-point.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“(Novelists, when their characters drive cars, never feel compelled to describe precisely what the physical actions are of hands, feet, eyes, knees, elbows. Yet many of these same novelists, when their characters copulate, get into such detailed physical description you’d think they were writing an exercise book. We all know the interrelation between the right ankle and the accelerator when driving a car, and we needn’t be told.”
― Donald E. Westlake, Dancing Aztecs

“With a roof over his head he had ceased to work, living off his [war] pension and his wits, both hopelessly inadequate.”
― Spike Milligan