had to be something to compare it with. (E)
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)
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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)
Rincewind growled. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was people who were fearless in the face of death. It seemed to strike at something absolutely fundamental in him. (E)
He could shout ‘help!’ in fourteen languages and scream for mercy in a further twelve. He had passed through many countries on the Disc, some of them at high speed, and during the long, lovely, boringhours when he’d worked in the Library he’d whiled away the time by reading up on all the exotic and faraway places he’d never visited. He remembered that at the time he’d sighed with relief that he’d never have to visit them. (E)
Pre-eminent amongst Rincewind’s talents was his skill in running away, which over the years he had elevated to the status of a genuinely pure science; it didn’t matter if you were fleeing from or to, so long as you were fleeing. It was
flight alone that counted. I run, therefore I am; more correctly, I run, therefore with any luck I’ll still be. (E) Apparently having a fire-breathing lizard focusing interestedly on one’s nether regions from a distance of a few feet can upset the strongest constitution. (GG)
'You stay here. I’ll whistle if it’s safe to follow me.’
‘What will you do if it isn’t safe?’ ‘Scream.' (P) Magrat peered around timidly. Here and there on the moor were huge standing stones, their origins lost in time, which were said to lead mobile and private lives of their own. She shivered.
‘What’s to be afraid of?’ she managed. ‘Us,’ said Granny Weatherwax, smugly. (WS) 'I'm not going to ride on a magic carpet!’ he hissed. ‘I’m afraid of grounds!’
‘You mean heights,’ said Conina. ‘And stop being silly.’ ‘I know what I mean! It’s the grounds that kill you.' (S) It wasn’t blood in general he couldn’t stand the sight of, it was just his blood in particular that was so upsetting. (S)
'This is a robe,’ said Rincewind quickly. ‘And you’d better watch out, because I’m a wizard.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Lay a finger on me, and you’ll make me wish you hadn’t. I warn you.' (S)
'City people are always worried about the future, it comes from eating unnatural food.' (ER)
If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you’re going to die. So they’ll talk. They’ll gloat. They’ll watch you squirm. They’ll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word. (MA) Rincewind had faced many horrors in his time, but none held quite the same place in the lexicon of dread as those few seconds after someone said, “Turn over your papers now." (IT)
'It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever,’ he said. ‘Have you thought of going into teaching?’
Death’s face was a mask of terror. Well it was always a mask of terror, but this time he meant it to be. (M) Like a lot of people with big muscles, he got edgy about people who were strong in other ways. (W)
'Ramkins have never run away from anything’ Sybil declared.
‘Vimeses have run like hell all the time,’ said Vimes, too diplomatic to mention the aforesaid ancestors who came home in pieces. ‘That means you fight where you want to fight.' (Th) 'No fresh vegetables, no fruit,’ said Shufti. ‘That’s a very binding diet, corp.’
‘Yeah, well, once battle commences I reckon you’ll find constipation’s the last thing on your mind,’ said Scallot. (MR) 'Face the man you have challenged, or give up the belt.’
The figure remained very still for a moment, and then cautiously, in a manner almost theatrically designed not to give offence, started to fumble with his belt. ‘No, no, we don’t need that,’ said Lu-Tze kindly. ‘It was a good challenge. A decent “Ai!” and a very passable“Hai-eee!”, I thought. Good martial gibberish all round, such as you don’t often hear these days. And we would not want his trousers falling down at a time like this, would we?’ He sniffed and added, ‘Especially at a time like this.' (TOT) ... no man wants to be a coward in front of a cheese. (W)
'She's a servant of the Store,' said Gurder, who was still trembling. 'She's the enemy of the dreadful Prices Slashed, who wanders the corridors at night with his terrible shining light, to catch evil nomes!'
'It's a good job you don't believe in him, then,' said Masklin. 'Of course I don't,' agreed Gurder. 'Your teeth are chattering, though.' 'That's because my teeth believe in him. And so do my knees. and my stomach. It's only mt head that doesn't and it's being carried around by a load of superstitious cowards.' (Truck) … nervousness runs through pigeons faster than a streaker through a convent ... (MM)
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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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