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Terry Pratchett Quotes - Page 17

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
I have to write because if I don't get something down then after a while I feel it's going to bang the side of my head off.

I have to write because if I don't get something down then after a while I feel it's going to bang the side of my head off.

Terry Pratchett
Writing, Sides, Bangs

Everyone knew there were wolves in the mountains, but they seldom came near the village-the modern wolves were the offspring of ancestors that had survived because they had learned that human meat had sharp edges.

Terry Pratchett
Mountain, Meat, Village
Stephen Briggs, Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Wit And Wisdom Of Discworld”, p.24, Random House

Learnin’ how not to do things is as hard as learning how to do them.

Terry Pratchett
Hard

Haven't you got any romance in your soul?" said Magrat plaintively. "No," said Granny. "I ain't. And stars don't care what you wish, and magic don't make things better, and no one doesn't get burned who sticks their hand in a fire. If you want to amount to anything as a witch, Magrat Garlick, you got to learn three things. What's real, what's not real, and what's the difference.

Terry Pratchett
Stars, Real, Differences
"Witches Abroad". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1991.

A Duke couldn't have the arse hanging out of his trousers when meeting foreign diplomats. Actually even plain old Sam Vimes never had the arse hanging out of his trousers, either, but no one would have actually started a war if he had.

Terry Pratchett
War, Arses, Diplomats
Terry Pratchett (2002). “Night watch”, Doubleday UK

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man I put away childish things because. wow, then I could afford much *better* childish things!

Terry Pratchett
Children, Men, Bvb
"Fictional character: Admiral Sir Edward Pellew". "Horatio Hornblower 3", www.imdb.com. 2003.

You never knew about people, like you never knew how deep a pond was because all you saw was the top.

Terry Pratchett
People, Ponds, Saws

Man just went past with a cat on his head.

Terry Pratchett
Cat, Past, Men

The second mouse gets the cheese!

Terry Pratchett
Funny, Witty, Iron

I grow as many of our vegetables as I can, because my granddad was a professional gardener, and it's in the blood.

Terry Pratchett
Vegetables, Blood, Grows

My experience in Amsterdam is that cyclists ride where the hell they like and aim in a state of rage at all pedestrians while ringing their bell loudly, the concept of avoiding people being foreign to them.

Terry Pratchett
Travel, People, Bells

Sham Harga had run a successful eatery for many years by always smiling, never extending credit, and realizing that most of his customers wanted meals properly balanced between the four food groups: sugar, starch, grease, and burnt crunchy bits.

Terry Pratchett
Running, Successful, Years

You say that you people don’t burn folk and sacrifice people anymore, but that’s what true faith would mean, y’see? Sacrificin’ your own life, one day at a time, to the flame, declarin’ the truth of it, workin’ for it, breathin’ the soul of it. That’s religion. Anything else is just . . . is just bein’ nice. And a way of keepin’ in touch with the neighbors.

Terry Pratchett
Nice, Mean, Sacrifice

London was not designed for cars. Come to that, it wasn't designed for people. It just sort of happened. This created problems, and the solutions that were implemented became the next problems, five or ten or a hundred years down the line.

Terry Pratchett
Years, Car, People

His progress through life was hampered by his tremendous sense of his own ignorance, a disability which affects all too few.

Terry Pratchett
Ignorance, Progress, Disability
Terry Pratchett (2009). “Maskerade: (Discworld Novel 18)”, p.271, Random House

It's no wonder most religions are born in the desert, because when men lay beneath that boundless night sky and look up at the infinite expanse of creation they have an uncontrollable urge to put something in the way .

Terry Pratchett
Night, Men, Sky

Ordinary fortune-tellers tell you what you want to happen; witches tell you what’s going to happen whether you want it to or not. Strangely enough, witches tend to be more accurate but less popular.

Terry Pratchett
Ordinary, Want, Witch
Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Wee Free Men: (Discworld Novel 30)”, p.2, Random House

I’m not superstitious. I’m a witch. Witches aren’t superstitious. We are what people are superstitious of.

Terry Pratchett
People, Witch, Superstitious
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Wintersmith: (Discworld Novel 35)”, p.162, Random House

The truth is a fog, in which one man sees the heavenly host and the other one sees a flying elephant.

Terry Pratchett
Men, Fog, Elephants
Terry Pratchett (2012). “Dodger”, p.132, Random House

I must confess the activities of the UK governments for the past couple of years have been watched with frank admiration and amazement by Lord Vetinari. Outright theft as a policy had never occurred to him.

Terry Pratchett
Couple, Past, Government

I like the idea of democracy. You have to have someone everyone distrusts.

Terry Pratchett
Ideas, Democracy, Discworld
"Small Gods". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1992.

No. Men should die for lies. But the truth is too precious to die for.

Terry Pratchett
Lying, Men, Truth Is
"Small Gods". Book by Terry Pratchett, en.wikiquote.org. 1992.

Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.

Terry Pratchett
People, Evil, Tragedy
Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett (2011). “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”, p.30, Harper Collins

These weren't cheap modern books; these were books bound in leather, and not just leather, but leather from clever cows who had given their lives for literature after a happy existence in the very best pastures.

Terry Pratchett
Clever, Book, Literature
"I Shall Wear Midnight". Book by Terry Pratchett, 2010.

Ach, people are always telling us not to do things" said Rob Anybody, "that's how we ken the most interesting things to do.

Terry Pratchett
People, Interesting, Said

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