Discworld Quotes

• In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this.

  Terry Pratchett

  Inspirational, Motivational, Cat

  "Ghost Cats : Human Encounters with Feline Spirits" by Dusty Rainbolt, (p. 7), 2007.

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• Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because - what with trolls and dwarfs and so on - speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green.

  Terry Pratchett

  Black And White, America, Racism

  Terry Pratchett (2010). “Witches Abroad: (Discworld Novel 12)”, p.212, Random House

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• Picturesque meant - he decided after careful observation of the scenerey that inspired Twoflower to use the word - that the landscape was horribly precipitous. Quaint, when used to describe the occasional village through which they passed, meant fever-ridden and tumbledown. Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the discworld. Tourist, Rincewind had decided, mean 'idiot'.

  Terry Pratchett

  Mean, Tourists, Use

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “The Colour Of Magic: (Discworld Novel 1)”, p.101, Random House

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• You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?

  Terry Pratchett

  Believe, Needs

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “Hogfather: (Discworld Novel 20)”, p.409, Random House

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• Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.

  Terry Pratchett

  Order, Chaos, Defeat

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• ...inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.

  Terry Pratchett

  Birthday, Death, Suicide

  Terry Pratchett (2009). “Moving Pictures: (Discworld Novel 10)”, p.311, Random House

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• 

  If you trust in yourself. . .and believe in your dreams. . .and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.

  Terry Pratchett

  Funny, Motivational, Trust

  FaceBook post by Terry Pratchett from Aug 28, 2015

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• Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events -- the oil spilled just there, the safety fence broken just there -- that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous.

  Terry Pratchett

  Confused, Nice, Mean

  "Interesting Times". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1994.

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• They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

  Terry Pratchett

  Funny, Learning, Ignorance

  Terry Pratchett (2009). “Equal Rites: (Discworld Novel 3)”, Random House

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• Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.

  Terry Pratchett

  Jobs, Disease, Made

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “Hogfather: (Discworld Novel 20)”, p.38, Random House

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• The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.

  Terry Pratchett

  Life, Inspire, Plot

  "Moving Pictures". Book by Terry Pratchett, www.theguardian.com. 1990.

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• When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth.

  Terry Pratchett

  Mean, People, Complicated

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “Carpe Jugulum: (Discworld Novel 23)”, p.314, Random House

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• This I choose to do. If there is a price, this I choose to pay. If it is my death, then I choose to die. Where this takes me, there I choose to go. I choose. This I choose to do.

  Terry Pratchett

  Pay, Take Me, Dies

  "Wintersmith". Book by Terry Pratchett, 2006.

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• Million-to-one chances...crop up nine times out of ten.

  Terry Pratchett

  Luck, Nine, Chance

  "Equal Rites". Book by ‎Terry Pratchett, 1987.

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• If you put butter and salt on it, it tastes like salty butter.

  Terry Pratchett

  Taste, Salt, Ifs

  Terry Pratchett (2009). “Moving Pictures: (Discworld Novel 10)”, p.31, Random House

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• Natural selection saw to it that professional heroes who at a crucial moment tended to ask themselves questions like 'What is my purpose in life?' very quickly lacked both.

  Terry Pratchett

  Hero, Purpose, Saws

  Terry Pratchett (2008). “Interesting Times: (Discworld Novel 17)”, p.139, Random House

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• And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based.

  Terry Pratchett

  Would Be, Definitions, Practicals

  "Going Postal". Book by Terry Pratchett, en.wikiquote.org. 2004.

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• Rincewind could scream for mercy in nineteen languages, and just scream in another forty-four.

  Terry Pratchett

  Nineteen, Four, Language

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• That's why it's always worth having a few philosophers around the place. One minute it's all is truth beauty and is beauty truth, and does a falling tree in the forest make a sound if there's no one there to hear it, and then just when you think they're going to start dribbling one of 'em says, incidentally, putting a thirty-foot parabolic reflector on a high place to shoot the rays of the sun at an enemy's ships would be a very interesting demonstration of optical principles.

  Terry Pratchett

  Fall, Thinking, Feet

  "Small Gods". Book by ‎Terry Pratchett, 1992.

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• The figures looked more or less human. And they were engaged in religion. You could tell by the knives (it's not murder if you do it for a god).

  Terry Pratchett

  Knives, Murder, Figures

  "Small Gods". Book by Terry Pratchett, 1992.

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• The pamphlet was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.

  Terry Pratchett

  Patriotic, Killing, Foreigners

  "Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, Book 31)". Book by Terry Pratchett, 2003.

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• 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, Found

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• Probably the last man who knew how it worked had been tortured to death years before. Or as soon as it was installed. Killing the creator was a traditional method of patent-protection.

  Terry Pratchett

  Men, Years, Patents

  "Small Gods (Discworld, Book 13)". Book by Terry Pratchett (p. 307), 1992.

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• When you can flatten entire cities at a whim, a tendency towards quiet reflection and seeing-things-from-the-other-fellow's-point- of-view is seldom necessary.

  Terry Pratchett

  Reflection, Views, Cities

  "Small Gods". Book by ‎Terry Pratchett, 1992.

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• 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.

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