'He says gods like to see an atheist around. Gives them something to aim at.' (SG)
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... the gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that’s where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won’t do if they don’t know about it. This explains why it is important to shoot missionaries on sight. (E)
A number of religions in Ankh-Morpork still practiced human sacrifice, except that they didn’t really need to practice any more because they had got so good at it. City law said that only condemned criminals should be used, but that was all right because in most of the religions refusing to volunteer for sacrifice was an offence punishable by death. (GG)
The gods are great believers in justice, at least as far as it extends to humans, and have been known to dispense it so enthusiastically that people miles away are turned into a cruet. (P)
In fact no gods anywhere play chess. They haven’t got the imagination. Gods prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight To Oblivion; a key to the understanding of all religion is that a god’s idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs. (WS)
Only crimes could take place in darkness. Punishment had to be done in the light. That was the job of a good
watchman, Carrot always said. To light a candle in the dark. (FC) 'They’re holding me pris’ner, sir! They gived me a trouserectomy, sir!' (GP)
What the Iron Maiden was to stupid tyrants, the committee was to Lord Vetinari; it was only slightly more expensive, far
less messy, considerably more efficient and, best of all, you had to force people to climb inside the Iron Maiden. (MM) 'A wise ruler thinks twice before directing violence against someone because he does not approve of what they say.’
Once again, Vimes did not comment. He himself directed violence daily and with a certain amount of enthusiasm against people because he didn’t approve of them saying things like ‘Give me all your money’or ‘What are you going to do about it, copper?’ But perhaps rulers had to think differently. (Th) 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)
'It wasn’t until ten years ago that they replaced trial by ordeal here with trial by lawyer, and that was only because they found that lawyers were nastier.' (FE)
In this he was echoing the Patrician’s view of crime and punishment. If there was crime, there should be punishment.
If the specific criminal should be involved in the punishment process then this was a happy accident, but if not then any criminal would do, and since everyone was undoubtedly guilty of something, the net result was that, in general terms, justice was done. (MA) The Patrician didn’t believe in unnecessary cruelty.*
*While being bang alongside the idea of necessary cruelty, of course. (GG) It is said that whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. In fact, whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on the side. It’s more interesting, and doesn’t take so long. (SM)
'Besides, it's wrong to hurt prisoners, I read it in a book. It's called the Geneva Convention. When you've got people at your mercy, you shouldn't hurt them.'
'Seems like the ideal time to me,' said a nome. 'Hit them when they can't hit back, that's what I say.' (Dig) He kept the cell keys in a tin box in the bottom drawer of his desk, a long way out of reach of any stick, hand, dog, cunningly thrown belt or trained Klatchian monkey spider*.
*Making Fred Colon possibly unique in the annals of jail history. (Th) '... I think there’s no rule to stop me beating seven kinds of crap out of you until you tell me why you came here and when the rest of your mates are going to arrive. And that may take me some time, sir, because up until now I’ve only ever discovered five types of crap.' (MR)
The dungeons of the palace held a number of felons imprisoned ‘at his lordship’s pleasure’, and since Lord Vetinari was seldom very pleased they were generally in for the long haul. (LH)
'Got any requests for your last breakfast?’
‘Something that takes a really really long time to prepare?’ said Rincewind. (LC) 'Never build a dungeon you wouldn’t be happy to spend the night in yourself,’ said the Patrician, laying out the food on the cloth. ‘The world would be a happier place if more people remembered that.' (GG)
The previous governess had used various monsters and bogeymen as a form of discipline. There was always something waiting to eat or carry off bad boys and girls for crimes like stuttering or defiantly and aggravatingly persisting in writing with their left hand. There was always a Scissor Man waiting for a little girl who sucked her thumb, always a bogeyman in the cellar. Of such bricks is the innocence of childhood constructed. (H)
... Madam Frout wasn’t very good at discipline, which was possibly why she’d invented the Method, which didn’t require any. She generally relied on talking to people in a jolly tone of voice until they gave in out of sheer embarrassment on her behalf. (TOT)
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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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