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Terry Pratchett Quotes - Page 16

All Quotes Accidents Adventure Age Arguing Art Atheism Atheist Authority Balance Beer Belief Blame Chaos Character Children Chocolate Choices Coffee Copper Country Crime Darkness Death Dementia Democracy Doubt Dying Effort End Of The World Evil Fate Feelings Fighting Finding Yourself Flying Food Football Fun Funeral Funny Genius Geography Giving Gold Goodbye Growing Up Hate Heart Heaven Hell History Home Horror House Humanity Hurt Husband Ignorance Imagination Inspiration Inspirational Jesus Journey Justice Killing Language Leaving Letting Go Life Life And Death Listening Literature Logic Losing Luck Lying Magic Mankind Manners Memories Military Moon Morning Motivational Mountain Observation Opportunity Pain Past Perspective Philosophy Police Pride Progress Purpose Quality Rain Reading Reality Religion Responsibility Romance Running Safety Sanity School Science Science Fiction Silence Sin Singing Sleep Smoking Son Soul Spring Students Stupidity Style Suffering Sunrise Travel Trust Truth Understanding Universe Violence Waiting Wall War Water Wife Winning Work Out Worry Writing
You can't second-guess ineffability, I always say.

You can't second-guess ineffability, I always say.

Terry Pratchett
Good Omens, Omen
Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett (2011). “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”, p.4, Harper Collins

Some people are confident because they are fools. Leonard had the look of someone who was confident because, so far, he'd never found a reason not to be.

Terry Pratchett
Confidence, People, Looks
Terry Pratchett (2016). “The Last Hero”, p.37, Hachette UK

They think written words are even more powerful,’ whispered the toad. ‘They think all writing is magic. Words worry them. See their swords? They glow blue in the presence of lawyers.

Terry Pratchett
Powerful, Writing, Thinking

After a while, another voice said: One, two, three, four- And the universe came into being. It was wrong to call it a big bang. That would just be noise, and all that noise could create is more noise and a cosmos full of random particles. Matter exploded into being, apparently as chaos, but in fact as a chord. The ultimate power chord.

Terry Pratchett
Music, Two, Voice

...William wondered why he always disliked people who said 'no offense meant.' Maybe it was because they found it easier to to say 'no offense meant' than actually to refrain from giving offense.

Terry Pratchett
People, Giving, Easier

Someone out there was about to find that their worst nightmare was a maddened Librarian. With a badge.

Terry Pratchett
Worst Nightmares, Librarian, Badges

Fantasy is escapism, but wait... Why is this wrong? What are you escaping from, and where are you escaping to? Is the story opening windows or slamming doors? The British author G.K. Chesterton summarized the role of fantasy very well. He said its purpose was to take the everyday, commonplace world and lift it up and turn it around and show it to us from a different perspective, so that once again we see it for the first time and realize how marvelous it is. Fantasy - the ability to envisage the world in many different ways - is one of the skills that make us human.

Terry Pratchett
Escaping, Doors, Skills

This time it had been magic. And it didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Done, Discworld

They were indeed what was known as 'old money', which meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds which had originally filled the coffers were now historically irrelevant. Funny, that: a brigand for a father was something you kept quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of over the port. Time turned the evil bastards into rogues, and rogue was a word with a twinkle in its eye and nothing to be ashamed of.

Terry Pratchett
Father, Eye, Long Ago

Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: 'Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?'

Terry Pratchett
Educational, Thinking, Mules

Modesty is only arrogance by stealth.

Terry Pratchett
Arrogance, Modesty, Stealth

In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.

Terry Pratchett
Cat, Alive, Lords And Ladies

I do not in fact use many puns. Certainly there are far fewer than people believe. But I suspect the ones I do occasionally use tend to hang around in people's memories for a while.

Terry Pratchett
Memories, Believe, People
Interview conducted in advance of Terry Pratchett's National Book Festival appearance in Washington, D.C., www.epicreads.com. September 29, 2007.

I intend, before the endgame looms, to die sitting in a chair in my own garden with a glass of brandy in my hand and Thomas Tallis on the iPod. Oh, and since this is England, I had better add, "If wet, in the library." Who could say that this is bad?

Terry Pratchett
Garden, Glasses, Hands
"I'll die before the endgame, says Terry Pratchett in call for law to allow assisted suicides in UK", www.dailymail.co.uk. August 3, 2009.

Life is a trick, and you get one chance to learn it.

Terry Pratchett
Chance, Life Is, Tricks

The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.

Terry Pratchett
Communication, Hammers, Reason
"Guards! Guards! (Discworld, Book 8)". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1989.

What can the harvest hope for...

Terry Pratchett
Azrael, Harvest, Discworld
Terry Pratchett (2017). “Terry Pratchett's Discworld Coloring Book”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

Sometimes you had to take a look at yourself and then look away.

Terry Pratchett
Looks, Sometimes, Look At Yourself

Humans need fantasy in order to be human.

Terry Pratchett
Healing, Order, Needs

Nanny Ogg knew how to start spelling 'banana', but didn't know how you stopped.

Terry Pratchett
Nannies, Bananas, Spelling

People are often so busy living that they never stop to wonder why.

Terry Pratchett
People, Wonder, Busy
Terry Pratchett (2010). “I Shall Wear Midnight: (Discworld Novel 38)”, p.17, Random House

I could be wrong. Not being certain is what being a philosopher is all about.

Terry Pratchett
Philosopher, Certain, Small Gods
"Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett, Harper, (p. 172), March 2008.

Picturesque meant - he decided after careful observation of the scenerey that inspired Twoflower to use the word - that the landscape was horribly precipitous. Quaint, when used to describe the occasional village through which they passed, meant fever-ridden and tumbledown. Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the discworld. Tourist, Rincewind had decided, mean 'idiot'.

Terry Pratchett
Mean, Tourists, Use
Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Colour Of Magic: (Discworld Novel 1)”, p.101, Random House

I thought jet planes were just trucks with more wings and less wheels.

Terry Pratchett
Wings, Jet Planes, Wheels

The thing about secrets is that they are usually best kept by just one person. That was the special thing about secrets. Some people seemed to think that the best way to keep a secret was to tell as many people as possible; what could possibly go wrong for a secret when there were so many people defending it?

Terry Pratchett
Thinking, People, Secret
Terry Pratchett (2012). “Dodger”, p.285, Random House

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