Quotes from Leonard da Quirm
The most dangerous man in the world should be introduced.
He has never, in his entire life, harmed a living creature. He has dissected a few, but only after they were dead, and had marvelled at how well they’d been put together considering it had been done by unskilled labour. For several years he hadn’t moved outside a large, airy room, but this was OK, because he spent most of his time inside his own head in any case. There’s a certain type of person it’s very hard to imprison. (MA)
... you couldn't really imprison someone like Leonard of Quirm. The most you could do was lock up his body. The gods alone knew where his mind went. (J)
It often seemed to him that Leonard, who had pushed intellect into hitherto undiscovered uplands, had discovered there large and specialised pockets of stupidity. (FE)
'Tell me, Leonard,’ he said. ‘Has it ever occurred to you that one day wars will be fought with brains?’
Leonard picked up his cup of coffee. ‘Oh dear. Won’t that be rather messy?’ he said. (FE)
'I was rather thinking of problems associated with the thin air and low gravity,’ said Leonard. ‘That’s what the survivor of the Maria Pesto reported. But this afternoon I feel I can come up with a privy that, happily, utilises the thinner air of altitude to achieve the effect normally associated with gravity. Gentle suction is involved.’
Ponder nodded. He had a quick mind when it came to mechanical detail, and he’d already formed a mental picture. Now a mental eraser would be useful. (LH)
'I have absolute confidence in Mr da Quirm’s work, and I’m sure he has too.’
‘Oh, dear. No, I never bother to have any confidence,’ said Leonard.
‘You don’t?’
‘No, things just work. You don’t have to wish,’ said Leonard. ‘And, of course, if we do fail, then things won’t be that bad, will they? If we fail to come back, there won’t be anywhere left to fail to come back to in any case, will there? So it will all cancel out.’ He gave his happy little smile. ‘Logic is a great comfort in times like this, I always find.' (LH)
As one man, they turned in their seats to look at the Experimental Privy Mk 2. Mk 1 had worked – Leonard’s devices tended to– but since the key to its operation was that it tumbled very fast on a central axis while in use it had been abandoned after a report by its test pilot (Rincewind) that, whatever you had in mind when you went in, the only thing you wanted to do once inside was get out.
Mk 2 was as yet untried. It creaked ominously under their gaze, an open invitation to constipation and kidney stones. (LH)
He has never, in his entire life, harmed a living creature. He has dissected a few, but only after they were dead, and had marvelled at how well they’d been put together considering it had been done by unskilled labour. For several years he hadn’t moved outside a large, airy room, but this was OK, because he spent most of his time inside his own head in any case. There’s a certain type of person it’s very hard to imprison. (MA)
... you couldn't really imprison someone like Leonard of Quirm. The most you could do was lock up his body. The gods alone knew where his mind went. (J)
It often seemed to him that Leonard, who had pushed intellect into hitherto undiscovered uplands, had discovered there large and specialised pockets of stupidity. (FE)
'Tell me, Leonard,’ he said. ‘Has it ever occurred to you that one day wars will be fought with brains?’
Leonard picked up his cup of coffee. ‘Oh dear. Won’t that be rather messy?’ he said. (FE)
'I was rather thinking of problems associated with the thin air and low gravity,’ said Leonard. ‘That’s what the survivor of the Maria Pesto reported. But this afternoon I feel I can come up with a privy that, happily, utilises the thinner air of altitude to achieve the effect normally associated with gravity. Gentle suction is involved.’
Ponder nodded. He had a quick mind when it came to mechanical detail, and he’d already formed a mental picture. Now a mental eraser would be useful. (LH)
'I have absolute confidence in Mr da Quirm’s work, and I’m sure he has too.’
‘Oh, dear. No, I never bother to have any confidence,’ said Leonard.
‘You don’t?’
‘No, things just work. You don’t have to wish,’ said Leonard. ‘And, of course, if we do fail, then things won’t be that bad, will they? If we fail to come back, there won’t be anywhere left to fail to come back to in any case, will there? So it will all cancel out.’ He gave his happy little smile. ‘Logic is a great comfort in times like this, I always find.' (LH)
As one man, they turned in their seats to look at the Experimental Privy Mk 2. Mk 1 had worked – Leonard’s devices tended to– but since the key to its operation was that it tumbled very fast on a central axis while in use it had been abandoned after a report by its test pilot (Rincewind) that, whatever you had in mind when you went in, the only thing you wanted to do once inside was get out.
Mk 2 was as yet untried. It creaked ominously under their gaze, an open invitation to constipation and kidney stones. (LH)
