Authors:

Terry Pratchett Quotes - Page 37

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
And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass) or who

And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass) or who had no glass at all, because he was at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman's eye.

Terry Pratchett
Eye, Glasses, Broken
"The Truth". Book by Terry Pratchett, 2000.

Just because something is a metaphor doesn't mean it can't be real.

Terry Pratchett
Real, Mean, Being Real
"Reaper Man". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1991.

As we all know, the Discworld is a flat planet - like a geological pizza, but without the anchovies.

Terry Pratchett
Discworld, Planets, Flats
Stephen Briggs, Terry Pratchett (2012). “Turtle Recall: The Discworld Companion . . . So Far”, p.126, Hachette UK

People are content to wait a long time for salvation, but prefer dinner to turn up inside an hour.

Terry Pratchett
Long, People, Waiting
Terry Pratchett (2002). “Night watch”, Doubleday UK

The universe clearly operates for the benefit of humanity. This can be readily seen from the convenient way the sun comes up in the morning, when people are ready to start the day.

Terry Pratchett
Morning, People, Humanity
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Hogfather: (Discworld Novel 20)”, p.140, Random House

Classically, very few people have considered that cleanliness is next to godliness. A rank loincloth and hair in an advanced state of matted entanglement have generally been the badges of office of prophets whose injunction to disdain earthly things starts with soap.

Terry Pratchett
Hair, People, Office

Often I sort of work up and down the manuscript. I sometimes used to go ahead of myself to see what was going to happen next, to make certain it fits what was going to be happening soon.

Terry Pratchett
Next, Sometimes, Fit
"Terry Pratchett on his latest novel, his medical diagnosis, and more". Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 16, 2012.

There is a soak-the-rich attitude in the air, a feeling that if you have a lot of money you must have got it by some ghastly means. I can quite happily say there was never any family money. All the money we got was mine, just from writing books.

Terry Pratchett
Attitude, Book, Writing

I read the 'Old Testament' all the way through when I was about 13 and was horrified. A few months afterwards I read 'The Origin Of Species', hallucinating very mildly because I was in bed with flu at the time. Despite that, or because of that, it all made perfect sense.

Terry Pratchett
Perfect, Bed, Flu

Anger is wonderful. It keeps you going. I'm angry about bankers. About the government.

Terry Pratchett
Government, Bankers, Wonderful

The thing with crowns is, it isn't the putting them on that's the problem, it's the taking them off.

Terry Pratchett
Crowns, Problem

It is a mistake trying to cheer up camels. You may as well drop meringues into a black hole.

Terry Pratchett
Cheer, Mistake, Black

You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.

Terry Pratchett
Meaningful, Giving, Looks
"Small Gods (Discworld, Book 13)". Book by Terry Pratchett (p. 20), 1992.

I am certain no one sets out to be cruel, but our treatment of the elderly ill seems to have no philosophy to it. As a society, we should establish whether we have a policy of life at any cost.

Terry Pratchett
Philosophy, Elderly, Cost

I know three people who have got better after a brain tumour. I haven't heard of anyone who's got better from Alzheimer's.

Terry Pratchett
Alzheimer's, People, Brain
"'A butt of my own jokes': Terry Pratchett on the disease that finally claimed him". www.theguardian.com. March 14, 2015.

An author writes a book, and that's the book at that point. And if the author writes the book again, then somehow something has gone wrong, if you see what I mean.

Terry Pratchett
Book, Writing, Mean

I've lost both parents in the last two years, so you pick up on that stuff. That's the most terrible thing about being an author - standing there at your mother's funeral, but you don't switch the author off. So your own innermost thoughts are grist for the mill.

Terry Pratchett
Mother, Years, Two
"Terry Pratchett: 'I'm open to joy. But I'm also more cynical'" by Aida Edemariam, www.theguardian.com. September 1, 2010.

One thing that writers have in common is that they are readers first. They have read lots and lots of stuff, because they're just infested with lots of stuff.

Terry Pratchett
Stuff, Firsts, Common

Previous generations understood about death, and undoubtedly would have seen a reasonable amount of death. Once you get into the Victorian era, you might well have seen the funerals of many of your siblings before you were very old.

Terry Pratchett
Sibling, Funeral, Generations

The thing about stories is you have to pick the ones that last.

Terry Pratchett
Stories, Lasts, Picks

I see evil when I look in my shaving mirror. It is, philosophically, present everywhere in the universe in order, apparently, to highlight the existence of good. I think there is more to this theory, but I tend to burst out laughing at this point.

Terry Pratchett
Thinking, Mirrors, Order

I would not like it thought that I do not buy my own paperclips, sir. I enjoy owning my own paperclips. It means they are mine.

Terry Pratchett
Mean, Enjoy, Mines
Terry Pratchett (2009). “Unseen Academicals: (Discworld Novel 37)”, p.339, Random House

The trouble with thinking was that, once you started, you went on doing it.

Terry Pratchett
Thinking, Trouble
Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents: (Discworld Novel 28)”, p.18, Random House

What was the point of education, he thought, if people went out afterward and used it?

Terry Pratchett
People, Used, Ifs

This, milord, is my family's axe. We have owned it for almost nine hundred years, see. Of course, sometimes it needed a new blade. And sometimes it has required a new handle, new designs on the metalwork, a little refreshing of the ornamentation . . . but is this not the nine hundred-year-old axe of my family? And because it has changed gently over time, it is still a pretty good axe, y'know. Pretty good.

Terry Pratchett
Years, Design, Littles

You May Also Like: