The wizards, once they understood the urgency of a problem and then had lunch, and argued about the pudding, could actually work quite fast. Their method of finding a solution, as far as the Patrician could see, was by way of creative hubbub. If the question was, ‘What is the best spell for turning a book of poetry into a frog?’, then the one thing they would not do was look in any book with a title like Major Amphibian Spells in a Literary Environment: A Comparison. That would, somehow, be cheating. They would argue about it instead, standing around a blackboard, seizing the chalk from one another and rubbing out bits of what the current chalk-holder was writing before he’d finished the other end of the sentence. Somehow, though, it all seemed to work. (LH)
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Wizards when faced with danger, would immediately stop and argue amongst themselves about exactly what kind of danger it was. By the time everyone in the party understood, either it had become the sort of danger where your options are so very, very clear that you instantly take of them or die, or it had got bored and gone away. Even danger has its pride. (LC)
The wizards shuddered. They weren’t against the outdoors, it was simply their place in it they objected to. (H)
A wizard would sooner go without his robe and trousers than forgo his hat. Without his hat, people might think he was an ordinary person. (IT)
But …if you put aside for the moment the certainty that something would definitely go horribly wrong, it looked foolproof. The trouble was that wizards were such ingenious fools. (IT)
Wizards were rumored to be wise - in fact, that’s where the word came from.*
*From the Old wys-ars, lit.: one who, at bottom, is very smart. (SM) 'Tell me,’ Ludmilla whispered to Ridcully, ‘is this how wizards usually behave?’
‘The Senior Wrangler is an amazingly fine example,’said Ridcully. ‘Got the same urgent grasp of reality as a cardboard cut-out. Proud to have him on the team.' (RM) The subject of wizards and sex is a complicated one, but as has already been indicated it does, in essence, boil down to this: when it comes to wine, women and song, wizards are allowed to get drunk and croon as much as they like. (S)
It may be quite tough at the top, and it is probably even tougher at the bottom, but halfway up it’s so tough you could use it for horseshoes. By then all the no-hopers, the lazy, the silly and the downright unlucky have been weeded out, the field’s cleared, and every wizard stands alone and surrounded by mortal enemies on every side. (S)
The reason that wizards didn’t rule the Disc was quite simple. Hand any two wizards a piece of rope and they would instinctively pull in opposite directions. (S)
... to say that wizards are healthily competitive by nature is like saying that piranhas are naturally a little peckish. (S)
When it comes to glittering objects, wizards have all the taste and self-control of a deranged magpie. (S)
The Rite of AshkEnte, quite simply, summons and binds Death. Students of the occult will be aware that it can be performed with a simple incantation, three small bits of wood and 4cc of mouse blood, but no wizard worth his pointy hat would dream of doing anything so unimpressive; they knew in their hearts that if a spell didn’t involve big yellow candles, lots of rare incense, circles drawn on the floor with eight different colours of chalk and a few cauldrons around the place then it simply wasn’t worth contemplating. (M)
A stuffed alligator is absolutely standard equipment in any properly-run magical establishment. This one looked as though it hadn’t enjoyed it much. (M)
Thats wizards for you, he thought gloomily as he waded between the dripping arches, always probing the infinite but never noticing the definite, especially in the matter of household chores. (ER)
'You’re wizards!’ she screamed. ‘Bloody well wizz!' (ER)
'... a white magician is just a black magician with a good housekeeper.' (ER)
Of course, all magic changed the world in some way, wizards thought there was no other use for it – they didn’t truck with the idea of leaving the world as it was and changing the people... (ER)
Gander looked at the lad in question. He had met a good many wizards in his time and considered himself a good judge and he had to admit that this boy looked like good wizard material. In other words, he was thin, gangling, pale from reading disturbing books in unhealthy rooms, and had watery eyes like two lightly-poached eggs. (ER)
'Men’s minds work different from ours, see. Their magic’s all numbers and angles and edges and what the stars are doing, as if that really mattered. It’s all power. It’s all-’ Granny paused, and dredged up her favourite word to describe all she despised in wizardry, ‘-jommetry.' (ER)
Magic! So that’s what it felt like! No wonder wizards didn’t have much truck with sex! (LF)
Oh, you know how it is with wizards. Half an hour afterwards you could do with another one, the dragon grumbles. (COM)
the magic of wizards, the magic of witches did not usually involve the application of much raw power. The difference is between hammers and levers. Witches generally tried to find the small point where a little changes made a lot of result. To make an avalanche you can either shake the mountain, or maybe you can just find exactly the right place to drop a snowflake. (SLF)
There are thousands of good reasons why magic doesn’t rule the world. They’re called witches and wizards, Magrat reflected ... (WS)
Unlike wizards, who like nothing better than a complicated hierarchy, witches don’t go in much for the structured approach to career progression. It’s up to each individual witch to take on a girl to hand the area over to when she dies. Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don’t have leaders.
Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn’t have. (WS) |
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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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