# Tales From The Folly

- Author: [Ben Aaronovitch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch.md)
- Quotes: 10
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly

## Quotes

> He didn’t have “instincts”, he had thirty years of experience—which was much more reliable.

p. 31 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/he-didnt-have.md)

> “I’m interested in history,” I said. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
>
> “Why would a young man like you be interested in history?”
>
> “So I can avoid repeating it.”

p. 16 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/im-interested-in-history.md)

> “Unless you believe it was a coincidence that Melvin the Rat turned up at a party we were hosting.”
>
> Actually I thought it probably was, but I found that when people are nursing a grievance it’s a waste of time trying to explain the ubiquitous nature of coincidence in the universe. People always want things to happen for a reason.

p. 91 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/unless-you-believe.md)

> “He was a Parisian,” he said. “You can never be sure what Parisians believe in—beyond Paris of course.”

p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/he-was-a-parisian.md)

> It was already one of the hazards of being police that you became suspicious of the everyday. You didn’t have to spend much time on the job before realising that professional criminals are comparatively rare and that crime is something committed by ordinary people.

p. 180 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/it-was-already.md)

> I wondered, not for the first time, whether all farmers become obsessed or if only obsessive people become farmers.

p. 205 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/i-wondered-not.md)

> With a rich history like that there was nothing to be done except flatten it and replace it with a shopping arcade designed in the who-the-fuck-cares school of retail architecture. The result was a two-story warehouse with a flat roof designed to maximise floor space and nothing else.

p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/with-a-rich.md)

> The perennial problem for retailers the world over are the customers. Not only do they clutter up the shop, but they also demand to be reminded of the title of a book they read a review about in the Telegraph, given directions to The Lion King, helped to find a book their mum will like and, occasionally, purchase some actual merchandise. All of this customer-facing activity gets in the way of the shelving, merchandising, sticking, destickering, table pyramiding and stock returning that is necessary for the smooth operation of a modern bookshop.

p. 45 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/the-perennial-problem.md)

> It’s a police rule of thumb that anything involving members of the public takes twice as long as you think it will.

p. 83 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/its-a-police.md)

> Inside he had the soul of an accountant, but alas none of the facility with numbers.

p. 124 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/tales-from-the-folly/inside-he-had.md)