There were all sorts of ways to petition the Great God, but they depended largely on how much you could afford, which was right and proper and exactly how things should be. After all, those who had achieved success in the world clearly had done it with the approval of the Great God, because it was impossible to believe that they had managed it with His disapproval. (SG)
0 Comments
'My late husband always said that the only way to make money out of poor people is by keeping them poor.' (MM)
People said that there was one law for the rich and one law for the poor, but it wasn’t true. There was no law for those who made the law, and no law for the incorrigibly lawless. All the laws and rules were for those people stupid enough to think like Cockbill Street people. (FC)
'It's only money.’
‘Yes, but it’s only my money, not only your money,’ Nanny pointed out. ‘We witches have always held everything in common, you know that,’ said Granny. ‘Well, yes,’said Nanny, and once again cut to the heart of the sociopolitical debate. ‘It’s easy to hold everything in common when no one’s got anything.' (Ma) 'No treasure,’said Cohen. ‘Spent it all. Drank it all. Gave it all away. Lost it.’
‘You should have saved some for your old age.’ ‘Never thought I’d have an old age.' (TB) 'The money’s not important? You keep on saying that! What kind of musician are you?' (SM)
Cohen's father had taken him to a mountain top, when he was no more than a lad, and explained to him the hero’s creed and told him that there was no greater joy than to die in battle.
Cohen had seen the flaw in this straight away, and a lifetime’s experience had reinforced his belief that in fact a greater joy was to kill the other bugger in battle and end up sitting on a heap of gold higher than your horse. (IT) 'Early to rise, early to bed, makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead…' (LF)
Some distance away from Madam Frout's in Estoric Street, were a number of gentlemen’s clubs. It would be far too cynical to say that here the term ‘gentleman’ was simply defined as ‘someone who can afford five hundred dollars a year’; they also had to be approved of by a great many other gentlemen who could afford the same fee. (TOT)
'... I think that once you’ve shown solidarity, you should be allowed just a little extra.' (AM)
Say what you like about the people of Ankh-Morpork, they had always been staunchly independent, yielding to no man their right to rob, defraud, embezzle and murder on an equal basis. This seemed absolute right, to Vimes’s way of thinking. There was no difference at all between the richest man and the poorest beggar, apart from the fact that the former had lots of money, food, power, fine clothes, and good health. But at least he wasn’t any better. (GG)
... there are things even a voice of eldritch command can’t achieve and one of them is to get extra money out of a head
teacher ... (TOT) 'I thought dwarfs loved gold,’ said Angua.
‘They just say that to get it into bed.' (FC) By now, if it had been a dwarf bar, the floor would be sticky with beer, the air would be full of flying quaff, and people would be singing. They’d probably be singing the latest dwarf tune, Gold, Gold, Gold, or one of the old favourites, like Gold, Gold, Gold, or the all-time biggie, Gold,Gold, Gold. (FC)
'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) ‘We do not execute. We do not massacre. We never, you may be very certain, we never torture. We have no truck with crimes of passion or hatred or pointless gain. We do not do it for a delight in inhumation, or to feed some secret inner need, or for petty advantage, or for some cause or belief; I tell you, gentlemen, that all these reasons are in the highest degree suspect. Look into the face of a man who will kill you for a belief and your nostrils will snuff up the scent of abomination. Hear a speech declaring a holy war and I assure you, your ears should catch the clink of evil’s scales and the dragging of its monstrous tail over the purity of the language.
‘No, we do it for the money. ‘And, because we above all must know the value of a human life, we do it for a great deal of money. ‘There can be few cleaner motives, so shorn of pretence. ‘Nil mortifi, sinelucre. Remember. No killing without payment.' (P) When Nobby had gone Vimes reached behind the desk and picked up a faded copy of Twurp’s Peerage or, as he personally thought of it, the guide to the criminal classes. You wouldn’t find slum dwellers in these pages, but you would find their landlords. And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions. (FC)
‘I didn’t know they were noble,’ said Io.
‘They’re all very rich and have had millions of people butchered or tortured to death merely for reasons of expediency and pride,’ said the Lady. The watching gods nodded solemnly. That was certainly noble behaviour. That was exactly what they would have done. (IT) A couple of women were moving purposefully among the boxes. Ladies, rather. They were far too untidy to be mere women. No ordinary women would have dreamed of looking so scruffy; you need the complete self-confidence that comes with knowing who your great-great-great-great-grandfather was before you could wear clothes like that. (GG)
By and large, the only skill the alchemists of Ankh-Morpork had discovered so far was the ability to turn gold into less
gold. (MP) |
Author
The world has lost Sir Terry, and it's so much the poorer for that. Vale Sir Terry. Categories
All
Archives
March 2023
|