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Terry Pratchett Quotes about Magic

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It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works.

It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works.

Terry Pratchett
Science, Technology, Magic

The senior wizard in a world of magic had the same prospects of long-term employment as a pogo stick tester in a minefield.

Terry Pratchett
Senior, Long, Magic
"Moving Pictures". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1990.

This looks like a job for inadvisably applied magic if ever I saw one.

Terry Pratchett
Jobs, Magic, Looks
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Making Money: (Discworld Novel 36)”, p.464, Random House

Ninety percent of most magic merely consists of knowing one extra fact.

Terry Pratchett
Knowing, Magic, Facts

Magicians and scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangely, live in a world of their own, speak a specialized language and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothing in common with a group of people who often dress strangely, speak a specialized language, live in ... er.

Terry Pratchett
Common Sense, People, Magic
"The Science of Discworld". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1999.

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

People who used magic without knowing what they were doing usually came to a sticky end. All over the entire room, sometimes.

Terry Pratchett
Knowing, People, Magic
Terry Pratchett (2009). “Moving Pictures: (Discworld Novel 10)”, p.215, Random House

That's what I don't like about magic, it does everything by magic!

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Doe
"Thud!". Book by Terry Pratchett, 2005.

That's one form of magic, of course." "What, just knowing things?" "Knowing things that other people don't know.

Terry Pratchett
Knowing, People, Magic
Terry Pratchett (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld”, p.22, Harper Collins

A Thaum is the basic unit of magical strength. It has been universally established as the amount of magic needed to create one small white pigeon or three normal-sized billiard balls.

Terry Pratchett
White, Magic, Three
Terry Pratchett (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld”, p.18, Harper Collins

A world like that, which exists only because the gods enjoy a joke, must be a place where magic can survive. And sex too, of course.

Terry Pratchett
Sex, Magic, World
"Equal Rites". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1987.

It's still magic even if you know how it's done.

Terry Pratchett
Technology, Magic, Done
Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Wee Free Men: (Discworld Novel 30)”, p.308, Random House

Unseen University had never admitted women, muttering something about problems with the plumbing, but the real reason was an unspoken dread that if women were allowed to mess around with magic they would probably be embarrassingly good at it.

Terry Pratchett
Real, Magic, Unseen
Terry Pratchett (2012). “The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld”, p.17, Harper Collins

Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.

Terry Pratchett
Good Luck, Science, Magic

It's an old magical principle - it's even filtered down into RPG systems - that magic, while taking a lot of effort, can be 'stored' - in a staff, for example. No doubt a wizard spends a little time each day charging up his staff, although you go blind if you do it too much, of course.

Terry Pratchett
Rpgs, Effort, Magic

Perhaps the magic would last, perhaps it wouldn't. But then again, what does?

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Doe, Lasts

Magic never dies. It merely fades away.

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Fades, Dies

Too much magic could wrap time and space around itself, and that wasn't good news for the kind of person who had grown used to things like effects following things like causes.

Terry Pratchett
Space, Magic, News
"Sourcery". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1988.

What is magic? There is the wizard's explanation... wizards talk about candles, circles, planets, stars, bananas, chants, runes and the importance of having at least four good meals every day.

Terry Pratchett
Stars, Circles, Magic
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Lords And Ladies: (Discworld Novel 14)”, p.141, Random House

Magic is just a way of saying 'I don't know.'

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Way, Knows
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Nation”, p.175, Random House

Unseen University was much bigger on the inside. Thousands of years as the leading establishment of practical magic in a world where dimensions were largely a matter of chance in any case had left it bulging in places where it shouldn't have places. There were rooms containing rooms which, if you entered them, turned out to contain the room you'd started with, which can be a problem if you are in a conga line.

Terry Pratchett
Years, Magic, Unseen
"The Last Continent: A Discworld Novel".

And that's what I don't like about magic, Captain. 'cos it's *magic*. You can't ask questions, it's magic. It doesn't explain anything, it's magic. You don't know where it comes from, it's magic! That's what I don't like about magic, it does everything by magic!

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Doe, Captains

The theater troubled her. It had a magic of its own, one that didn’t belong to her, one that wasn’t in her control. It changed the world, and said things were otherwise than they were. And it was worse than that. It was magic that didn’t belong to magical people. It was commanded by ordinary people, who didn’t know the rules. They altered the world because it sounded better.

Terry Pratchett
People, Magic, Ordinary
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Wyrd Sisters: (Discworld Novel 6)”, p.304, Random House

You can't kill me, I've got a magic... AAAARGH !

Terry Pratchett
Death, Suicide, Magic

There are thousands of good reasons why magic doesn't rule the world. They're called Witches and Wizards.

Terry Pratchett
Magic, Wizards, World
Terry Pratchett (2008). “Wyrd Sisters: (Discworld Novel 6)”, p.182, Random House

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