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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“I’m a witch. It’s what we do. When it’s nobody else’s business, it’s my business.”

Terry Pratchett book I Shall Wear Midnight

Source: I Shall Wear Midnight

“Imagination, not intelligence, made us human.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Foreword to The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1998) by David Pringle, ISBN 0-87951-937-1</small>, and The Definitive Illustrated Guide to Fantasy (2003) by David Pringle, <small> ISBN 1-84442-930-X
General sources

“You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage. Besides you don't build a better world by choppin' heads off and giving decent girls away to frogs.”

Terry Pratchett book Witches Abroad

Source: Witches Abroad (1991)

“They always gives me bath salts," complained Nobby. "And bath soap and bubble bath and herbal bath lumps and tons of bath stuff and I can't think why, 'cos it's not as if I hardly ever has a bath. You'd think they'd take the hint, wouldn't you?”

Terry Pratchett book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

“If you want to change a whole people, then you start with the girls. It stands to reason: they learn faster, and they pass on what they learn to their children.”

Terry Pratchett book Snuff

Source: Snuff

“Granny Weatherwax was not lost. She wasn't the kind of person who ever became lost. It was just that, at the moment, while she knew exactly where SHE was, she didn't know the position of anywhere else.”

Terry Pratchett book Wyrd Sisters

Source: Wyrd Sisters

“It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

“There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present, so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.”

Terry Pratchett book I Shall Wear Midnight

Source: I Shall Wear Midnight

“People don't alter history any more than birds alter the sky, they just make brief patterns in it.”

Terry Pratchett book Mort

Source: Mort

“No matter what she did with her hair it took about three minutes for it to tangle itself up again, like a garden hosepipe in a shed [Which, no matter how carefully coiled, will always uncoil overnight and tie the lawnmower to the bicycles].”

Terry Pratchett book Lords and Ladies

Source: Lords and Ladies

“The thing about witchcraft," said Mistress Weatherwax, "is that it's not like school at all. First you get the test, and then afterward you spend years findin' out how you passed it. It's a bit like life in that respect”

Terry Pratchett book The Wee Free Men

Source: The Wee Free Men

“I think," he said, "I think, if you want thousands, you have to fight for one.”

Terry Pratchett book Small Gods

Source: Small Gods

“I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I WAS THE ULTIMATE REALITY. I WAS THE ASSASSIN AGAINST WHOM NO LOCK WOULD HOLD.
"Yes, point taken, but do you have any particular skills?”

Terry Pratchett book Mort

Source: Mort

“But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.”

Terry Pratchett book Guards! Guards!

Source: Guards! Guards!

“Words are the litmus paper of the mind.”

Terry Pratchett book Small Gods

Source: Small Gods

“The philosopher Didactylos has summed up an alternative hypothesis as "Things just happen. What the hell".”

Terry Pratchett book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

“Who shall I shoot? You choose. Now, listen very carefully: where's your coffee? You've got coffee, haven't you? C'mon, everyone's got coffee! Spill the beans!”

Terry Pratchett book Monstrous Regiment

Source: Monstrous Regiment

“Everywhere I look, I see something holy.”

Terry Pratchett book Carpe Jugulum

Source: Carpe Jugulum

“There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.
Someone had stolen a book.”

Terry Pratchett book Guards! Guards!

Source: Guards! Guards!

“One day I'll work out what it is you are saying, my lad, and then you'll be in trouble.”

Terry Pratchett book I Shall Wear Midnight

Source: I Shall Wear Midnight