The Most Heartbreaking (and Hilarious) Quotes from The Last Devil To Die

Read time: 4 minutes

Richard Osman’s The Last Devil To Die is more than a mystery; it’s a masterclass in love, loss, and the “straight line” of time. It’s the kind of book that makes you laugh on one page and reach for the tissues on the next.

To capture the heart of the story, I’ve shortlisted the most moving quotes and organized them into five themes. Whether you’re here for the dry wit or the deep philosophy, these are the lines that stayed with me long after the final page.

My review of the book can be found here: The Thursday Murder Club Book That Will Break Your Heart

On the Nature of Time and Memory

These quotes capture the “spiral” nature of time in the novel—the idea that the past remains present even when the clock stops moving for some.

• “We think time travels forward, marches on in a straight line… But it doesn’t, you see. Time just swirls around us. Every thing is always present.”
• “Everyone who dies is alive. We call people ‘dead’ because we need a word for it, but ‘dead’ just means that time has stopped moving forward for that person.”
• “Our memories are no less real than whatever moment in which we happen to be living.”
• “Things that happen do not unhappen. Stephen’s death will not unhappen, but the wine and the kisses and the love and the helpless laughter will not unhappen either.”

The Weight of Love and Loss

These selections highlight the “price” of love. The inevitable grief that comes with deep connection.

• “I don’t know why we’re on this earth… But if I wanted to find the answer, I would begin with how much I love you.”
• “The real secret was that when they looked at each other, they each thought they had the better deal.”
• “Days of death are days when we weigh our relationship with love in our bare hands… The joy love brings, and the price we pay.”
• “They say that time softens the pain, but that’s a fairy tale… I’m afraid there are some days when I could still rip out my own heart and weep myself hollow.”
• “Grief doesn’t need an answer anymore than love does.”

The Reality of Aging and Decline

Osman handles the transition of aging with brutal honesty, focusing on the loss of control and the shift from the future to the past.

• “That’s what happens when you get older. Too many funerals, not enough weddings.”
• “She has been losing him, a paragraph at a time, but the chapter is done and the book is close to its end.”
• “There comes a point when you look at your photograph albums more often than you watch the news… You simply stop dancing to the beat of the drum.”
• “He is no longer trapped in the static of his mind. Tormented by stabs of clarity, like a drowning man surfacing above the waves before being engulfed again.”

Grief and Loneliness

These quotes resonate with the quiet, isolated moments of mourning, particularly the struggle of those left behind.

• “I know from experience that grief rides alone.”
• “Elizabeth lies on the bed and wonders how a broken heart can beat so fast.”
• “Three a.m. to four a.m. is always the longest hour. The hour when brutal loneliness takes total control. Where every tick of the clock is agony.”
• “Why is the clock in the hall still ticking? Doesn’t it know it stopped days ago?”

Classic Thursday Murder Club Wit

To balance the heavy themes, these quotes provide the dry, observational humor that fans love.

• “No one else I know says ‘whence,’” says Connie. “Then you must widen your social circle,” says Ibrahim.
• “New devils will always spring up, like daffodils in springtime.”
• “An antique is anything over one hundred years old. Everything else is vintage, or collectible.” … “We’re collectible, Elizabeth.”
• “I texted ‘Happy New Year’ to Joanna, and she texted back ‘HNY,’ as if the effort of spelling out the words was a bit too much.”

Book Links:

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Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org
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Check out more books from Viking Press

Which of these quotes hit you the hardest? Let me know in the comments.