What was magic, after all, but something that happened at the snap of a finger? Where was the magic in that? It was mumbled words and weird drawings in old books and in the wrong hands it was dangerous as hell, but not one half as dangerous as it could be in the right hands. (GP)
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,,, [the librarian] had been allowed to keep his job, which he was rather good at, although ‘allowed’ is not really the right word. It was the way he could roll his upper lip back to reveal more incredibly yellow teeth than any other mouth the University Council had ever seen before that somehow made sure the matter was never really raised. (GG)
'Even tyrants have to obey the law.’ He paused, looking thoughtful, and continued:‘No, I tell a lie, tyrants do not have to obey the law, obviously, but they do have to observe the niceties.' (MM)
'You can’t do that!’ Greenyham protested weakly, but the fire had drained out of him. Mr Stowley had collapsed on the floor, with his head in his hands.
‘Can I not?’ said Vetinari. ‘I am a tyrant. It’s what we do.' (GP) Grand Viziers were always scheming megalomaniacs. It was probably in the job description: ‘Are you a devious, plotting, unreliable madman? Ah, good, then you can be my most trusted minister.' (IT)
That was how you got to be a power in the land, he thought. You never cared a toss about whatever anyone else thought and you were never, ever, uncertain about anything. (GG)
The thief shuffled out. It was always like this with the Patrician, he reflected bitterly. You came to him with a perfectly reasonable complaint. Next thing you knew, you were shuffling backwards, bowing and scraping, relieved simply to be getting away. You had to hand it to the Patrician, he admitted grudgingly. If you didn’t, he sent men to come and take it away. (GG)
The Patrician was not a man you shook a finger at unless you wanted to end up being able to count only to nine. (GG)
'And is he a fair and just ruler?’
Carding thought about it. The Patrician’s spy network was said to be superb. ‘I would say,’ he said carefully, ‘that he is unfair and unjust, but scrupulously even-handed. He is unfair and unjust to everyone, without fear or favour’. (S) 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) ... the worst thing about Vorbis isn’t that he’s evil, but that he makes good people do evil. (SG)
You never teach anyone else everything you know. (W)
... any wizard bright enough to survive for five minutes was also bright enough to realise that if there was any power in demonology, then it lay with the demons. Using it for your own purposes would be like trying to beat mice to death with a rattlesnake. (E)
There was a rumour that the sword in the stick had been made with the iron taken from the blood of a thousand men. It seemed a waste, thought Moist, when for a bit of extra work you could get enough to make a ploughshare. (MM)
'I'm sure no one could call me a despot, your reverence,’ said Lord Vetinari severely.
Hughnon Ridcully made a misjudged attempted to lighten the mood. ‘Not twice at any rate, ahahah.' (TT) 'You are in favour of the common people?’ said Dragon mildly.
‘The common people?’ said Vimes. ‘They’re nothing special. They’re no different from the rich and powerful except they’ve got no money or power. But the law should be there to balance things up a bit.' (FC) Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote. The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote. (M)
Chrysoprase had been a very quick learner when he arrived in Ankh-Morpork. He began with an important lesson: hitting people was thuggery. Paying other people to do the hitting on your behalf was good business. (SM)
'You see, once you’ve got them at your mercy, you’re not allowed to kill them.’
The Silver Horde, to a man, stared at the ex-teacher. ‘I’m afraid that’s civilization for you,’ he added. (IT) The change in Albert’s voice was complete. The trumpets of command had become the piccolos of supplication. (M)
'Destiny is important see, but people go wrong when they think it controls them. It’s the other way around.' (WS)
... you can't teach cats to do anything. No, not a thing. You might think you can, but that is because you've misunderstood what's going on. You think it's the cat turning up obediently at the back door at ten o'clock for dinner. From the cat's point, a blob on legs has been trained to take a tin out of the fridge every night. (UC)
Trying to give a cat orders? It was easier to nail jelly to a wall. (AM)
Cats didn’t have to think. They just had to know what they wanted. Humans had to do the thinking. That’s what they were for. (AM)
There’s no point in having underlings if you don’t let them be the first to go through suspicious doors. (CJ)
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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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