'That’s right,’ said Mr. Saveloy. ‘They’ve had a lifetime’s experience of not dying. They’ve become very good at it.' (IT)
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'But there are causes worth dying for,’ said Butterfly.
‘No, there aren’t! Because you’ve only got one life but you can pick up another five causes on any street corner!’ ‘Good grief, how can you live with a philosophy like that?’ Rincewind took a deep breath. ‘Continuously!' (IT) 'Have you got any last words?'
YES. I DON’T WANT TO GO. ‘Well. Succinct, anyway.' (RM) 'Rincewind, I’ve known you for an hour and I’m astonished you’ve lived even that long!’
‘Yes, but I have, haven’t I? I’ve got a sort of talent for it. Ask anyone. I’m an addict.’ ‘Addicted to what?’ ‘Life. I got hooked on it at an early age and I don’t want to give it up...' (S) There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: ‘What’s up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don’t think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass), or who has no glass at all, because they were at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman’s eye. (TT) ... some stories end, but old stories go on, and you gotta dance to the music if you want to stay ahead. (AM)
'It’s just like I always tell my daughter,’ said the man. ‘Stories are just stories. Life is complicated enough as it is. We have to plan for the real world. There’s no room for the fantastic.’
‘Exactly,’ said the rat. And the man and the rat talked, as the long light faded into the evening. (AM) 'We all know what happens when a mysterious orphan turns up and challenges someone big and powerful, don’t we?
It’s like being the third and youngest son of a king. He can’t help but win!' She looked triumphantly at the crowd. But the crowd looked doubtful. They hadn’t read as many stories as Malicia, and were rather attached to the experience of real life, which is that when someone small and righteous takes on someone big and nasty he is grilled bread product, very quickly. (AM) 'And to think I thought it was an allegorical creature,’ said the priest.
‘Well? Even allegories have to live,’ said Granny Weatherwax. (CJ) 'You can die for your country or your people or your family, but for a god you should live fully and busily, every day of a long life.' (SG)
'He’s dead. All the medical tests prove it. So, er…bury him, keep him nice and cool, and tell him to come and see me next week. In daylight for preference.’
‘But he’s still breathing!’ ‘These are just reflex actions that might easily confuse the layman,’ said the doctor airily. (P) 'I fink, derefore I am. I fink.' (WMC)
One of the recurring philosophical questions is:
‘Does a falling tree in the forest make a sound when there is no one to hear?’ Which says something about the nature of philosophers, because there is always someone in the forest. It may only be a badger, wondering what that cracking noise was, or a squirrel a bit puzzled by all the scenery going upwards, but someone. (SG) For something to exist, it has to be observed.
For something to exist, it has to have a position in time and space. And this explains why nine-tenths of the mass of the universe is unaccounted for. Nine-tenths of the universe is the knowledge of the position and direction of everything in the other tenth. Every atom has its biography, every star its file, every chemical exchange its equivalent of the inspector with a clipboard. It is unaccounted for because it is doing the accounting for the rest of it, and you cannot see the back of your own head. Nine-tenths of the universe, in fact, is paperwork. (TOT) It would seem quite impossible, on such a mucky night, that there could have been anyone to witness this scene.
But there was. The universe requires everything to be observed, lest it cease to exist. (TT) 'It shouldn’t be like this.’
‘There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do.' (HFS) ... the life of gnomes and goblins is nasty, brutish and short. So are they. (LF)
‘Belief in the survival of what is laughably called the soul after death is a primitive superstition which has no place in a dynamic socialist society!’
They looked at him. ‘You don’t tzink,’ said Solomon Einstein, carefully, ‘that it is worth reconsidering your opinions in the light of experimental evidence?’ ‘Don’t think you can get around me just because you’re accidentally right! Just because I happen to find myself still…basically here,’ said William Stickers, ‘does not invalidate the general theory!’ (JD) Suicide was against the law. Johnny had wondered why. It meant that if you missed, or the gas ran out, or the rope broke, you could get locked up in prison to show you that life was really very jolly and thoroughly worth living. (JD)
'That’s the trouble with life, said the Alderman. ‘It takes up your whole time. I mean I won’t say it wasn’t fun. Bits of it. Quite a lot of it, really. In its own way. But it wasn’t what you’d call living…’ (JD)
‘This is not the right time. You are ill-prepared.’
Masklin clenched his fists. ‘I’ll never be well-prepared! I was born in a hole, Thing! A muddy hole in the ground! How can I ever be well-prepared for anything? That’s what being alive is, Thing! It’s being badly prepared for everything! Because you only get one chance, Thing! You only get one chance and then you die and they don’t let you go round again after you’ve got the hang of it!' (Dig) Nomes are small. On the whole, small creatures don’t live for a long time. But perhaps they do live fast.
Let me explain. One of the shortest-lived creatures on the planet Earth is the adult common mayfly. It lasts for one day. The longest-living things are bristlecone pine trees, at 4,700 years and still counting. This may seem tough on mayflies. But the important thing is not how long your life is, but how long it seems. (Truck) The start and finish of things was always dangerous, lives most of all. (W)
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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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