She'd found 'nose to the grindstone' in a book. Apparently it meant 'to get on with things.' She didn't see why people were supposed to work hard if you ground their noses; it seemed more likely that they'd work hard if you promised to grind their noses if they didn't. (Dig)
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Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean They aren't out to get you. (Strata)
'If we keep together and test every step, we should be safe,' came Brocando's unsteady voice. 'There's four of us. What would dare attack us?'
'Lot's of things.' 'Apart from them.' (CP) …it’s always worrying to see a journalist take a sudden interest in what you’re saying, especially when you half suspect it was a load of pigeon guano. And it’s worse when they are smiling. (GP)
They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that it is in a body that, in the morning, is going to be hanged. (GP)
'I am no’ deid! I’m trying to have a moment o’ existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it’s a puir lookout if a man cannae feel the chilly winds o’ Fate lashing aroound his nethers wi’out folks telling him he’s deid, eh?’ (HFS)
It turned out that when Miss Level had asked Tiffany if she was scared of heights, it had been the wrong question. Tiffany was not afraid of heights at all. She could walk past tall trees without batting an eyelid. Looking up at huge towering mountains didn’t bother her a bit.
What she wasafraid of, although she hadn’t realized it up until this point, was depths. She was afraid of dropping such a long way out of the sky that she’d have time to run out of breath screaming before hitting the rocks so hard that she’d turn to a sort of jelly and all her bones would break into dust. She was, in fact, afraid of the ground. (HFS) ‘…I always say the occasional tremble does you good.’ (WFM)
Of the very worst words that can be heard by anyone high in the air, the pair known as ‘Oh-oh’ possibly combine the maximum bowel-knotting terror with the minimum wastage of breath. (TOT)
And then there was Lady LeJean. She gave Igor the willies, and he was a man not usually subject to even the smallest willy.. (TOT)
'What is that on your badge, Captain Carrot?'
‘Mission motto, sir,’ said Carrot cheerfully. ‘Morituri Nolumus Mori. Rincewind suggested it.’ ‘I imagine he did,’ said Lord Vetinari, observing the wizard coldly. ‘And would you care to give us a colloquial translation, Mr Rincewind?’ ‘Er…’ Rincewind hesitated, but there really was no escape. ‘Er…roughly speaking, it means, “We who are about to die don’t want to”, sir.’ (LH) And Sergeant Colon once again knew a secret about bravery. It was arguable a kind of enhanced cowardice – the knowledge that while death may await you if you advance it will be a picnic compared to the certain living hell that awaits should you retreat. (J)
He is a coward. He is happy with this description. He would rather people said that Rincewind is a coward than Rincewind was incredibly brave right up to the point where he was bitten in half. (PP)
‘Be afraid. Be very afraid.’
‘Oh,that,’said Rincewind.‘No problem there. I’m good at that.’ (IT) Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four. (IT)
At home Granny Weatherwax slept with open windows and an unlocked door, secure in the knowledge that the Ramtops’ various creatures of the night would rather eat their own ears than break in. (Ma)
Granny looked out at the dull grey sky and the dying leaves and felt, amazingly enough, her sap rising. A day ago the future had looked aching and desolate, and now it looked full of surprises and terror and bad things happening to people ...
If she had anything to do with it, anyway. (Ma) 'Of course, just because we’ve heard a spine-chilling blood-curdling scream of the sort to make your very marrow freeze in your bones doesn’t automatically mean there’s anything wrong.’ (SM)
'Hah! You're uniform doesn't scare me,' he said.
Vimes looked down at his battered breastplate and worn mail. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘This is not a scary uniform. I’m sorry. Forward, Corporal Carrot and Lance-Constable Detritus.’ The Assassin was suddenly aware of the sunlight being blocked out. ‘Now these, I think you’ll agree,’ said Vimes, from somewhere behind the eclipse, ‘are scary uniforms.’ (MA) I thought I’d show everyone what I’m made of. And now they’ll probably find out: I’m made of lots of tubes and greeny purple wobbly bits. (LL)
When the least they could do to you was everything, then the most they could do to you suddenly held no terror. (SG)
Victor remembered being frightened of tigers when he was young. In vain did people point out that the nearest tiger was three thousand miles away. He’d say, ‘Is there any sea between where they live and here?’ and people would
say, ‘Well, no, but -’ and he’d say ‘Then it’s just a matter of distance.’ (MP) Now he realised what made boredom so attractive. It was the knowledge that worse things, dangerously exciting things, were going on just around the corner and that you were well out of them. For boredom to be enjoyable there
had to be something to compare it with. (E) Nightmares are usually rather daft things and it’s very hard to explain to a listener what was so dreadful about your socks coming alive or giant carrots jumping out of the hedgerows. (E)
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The world has lost Sir Terry, and it's so much the poorer for that. Vale Sir Terry. Categories
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