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Terry Pratchett Quotes - Page 35

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Young adults that actually read are reading bodice rippers and best-sellers and me. And Horror.

Young adults that actually read are reading bodice rippers and best-sellers and me. And Horror.

Terry Pratchett
Reading, Adults, Horror
Source: bobneilson.org

"Right!" "Right!" "You can get there!" "I can get there!" "You're a natural at counting to two!" "I'm a nat'ral at counting to two!" "If you can count to two, you can count to anything!" "If I can count to two, I can count to anything!" "And then the world is your mollusc!" "My mollusc! What's a mollusc?

Terry Pratchett
Stupid, Two, World
"Men at Arms (Discworld, Book 15)". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1993.

I am a technophile, so there is no such thing as a first draft. The first draft plunges on, and about a quarter of the way through it I realise I'm doing things wrong, so I start rewriting it. What you call the first draft becomes rather like a caterpillar; it is progressing fairly slowly, but there is movement up and down its whole length, the whole story is being changed. I call this draft zero, telling myself how the story is supposed to go.

Terry Pratchett
Zero, Progress, Stories
Source: www.theguardian.com

I read the best works of some of the best satirists, and indeed best writers from the beginning of the Victorian era to about the 1960s. If you want to be a blacksmith, you go and watch the blacksmith working, and you work out what the blacksmith does.

Terry Pratchett
Work Out, Doe, Watches

Perhaps it would be simpler if you just did what you're told and didn't try to understand things.

Terry Pratchett
Trying, Would Be, Ifs
Terry Pratchett (2009). “Sourcery: (Discworld Novel 5)”, p.67, Random House

First draft: let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11. Second draft: hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape. Third draft: comb its nose and blow its hair. I usually find that most of the book will have handed itself to me on that first draft.

Terry Pratchett
Running, Book, Cutting

I can no longer type, so I use TalkingPoint and Dragon Dictate. It's a speech-to-text program, and there's an add-on for talking which some guys came up with.

Terry Pratchett
Dragons, Talking, Guy

I'd go for "really great writer." Although I don't think I am. I know I have a style which is recognizable. I think you can see Terry Pratchett in every book. I like doing it. I was once a journalist. And I think of myself as a journalist, and that's it.

Terry Pratchett
Book, Thinking, Style
"Terry Pratchett on his latest novel, his medical diagnosis, and more". Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 16, 2012.

Your own brain ought to have the decency to be on your side!

Terry Pratchett
Your Side, Brain, Sides

Animals never spend time dividing experience into little bits and speculating about all the bits they've missed. The whole panoply of the universe has been neatly expressed to them as things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks.

Terry Pratchett
Running, Animal, Rocks

It was possibly the most circumspect advance in the history of military maneuvers, right down at the bottom end of the scale that things like the Charge of the Light Brigade are at the top of.

Terry Pratchett
Military, Light, History
"Guards! Guards!". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1989.

If I had been Terry Pratchett the farmer, or Terry Pratchett the dentist, nobody would have paid any attention if I had announced I had Alzheimer's. But there is something fascinating about an author losing the power over words.

Terry Pratchett
Alzheimer's, Attention, Losing

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN? The Death of Rats looked up from the feast of the potato. SQUEAK, he said. Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY ME, he said. I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.

Terry Pratchett
Truth, Heart, Men

'Discworld' is taking something that you know is ridiculous and treating it as if it is serious, to see if something interesting happens when you do so.

Terry Pratchett
Interesting, Serious, Ridiculous

That's a nice song,' said young Sam, and Vimes remembered that he was hearing it for the first time. It's an old soldiers' song,' he said. Really, sarge? But it's about angels.' Yes, thought Vimes, and it's amazing what bits those angels cause to rise up as the song progresses. It's a real soldiers' song: sentimental, with dirty bits. As I recall, they used to sing it after battles,’ he said. 'I've seen old men cry when they sing it,’ he added. Why? It sounds cheerful.' They were remembering who they were not singing it with, thought Vimes. You'll learn. I know you will.

Terry Pratchett
Song, Real, Nice
Terry Pratchett (2002). “Night watch”, Doubleday UK

Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?

Terry Pratchett
War, Why Not, Lords And Ladies
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Lords And Ladies: (Discworld Novel 14)”, p.125, Random House

Esk felt that bravery was called for, but on a night like this bravery lasted only as long as a candle stayed alight.

Terry Pratchett
Night, Long, Bravery
Terry Pratchett (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld”, p.22, Harper Collins

Poetic simile was strictly limited to statements like 'his mighty steed was as fleet as the wind on a fairly calm day, say about Force Three,' and any loose talk about a beloved having a face that launched a thousand ships would have to be backed by evidence that the object of desire did indeed look like a bottle of champagne.

Terry Pratchett
Wind, Desire, Ships
Terry Pratchett (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld”, p.17, Harper Collins

His parents called him Youngster. They did this in the subconcious hope that he might take the hint. Wensleydale gave the impression of having been born with a mental age of 47.

Terry Pratchett
Parent, Age, Hints

There's one thing you can say for air pollution, you get utterly amazing sunrises.

Terry Pratchett
Air, Sunrise, Pollution

That's the Ankh-Morpork instinct, Vimes thought. Run away, and then stop and see if anything interesting is going to happen to other people.

Terry Pratchett
Running, People, Interesting
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Guards! Guards!: (Discworld Novel 8)”, p.125, Random House

The Kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.

Terry Pratchett
Kraken, Dinner, Sushi

Books bend space and time. One reason the owners of those aforesaid little rambling, poky secondhand bookshops always seem slightly unearthly is that many of them really are, having strayed into this world after taking a wrong turning in their own bookshops in worlds where it is considered commendable business practice to wear carpet slippers all the time and open your shop only when you feel like it.

Terry Pratchett
Book, Practice, Space
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Guards! Guards!: (Discworld Novel 8)”, p.100, Random House

You had to deal every day with people who were foolish and lazy and untruthful and downright unpleasant, and you could certainly end up thinking that the world would be considerably improved if you gave them a slap.

Terry Pratchett
Thinking, People, Lazy
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Wintersmith: (Discworld Novel 35)”, p.59, Random House

Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you.” “Sir?” “It seems that you have managed to retain this even though you are authority.” “Sir?” “That’s practically zen.

Terry Pratchett
Authority, Used, Streaks
Terry Pratchett (1996). “Feet of Clay: A Novel of Discworld”, Harper Prism

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