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910bc79
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The pamphlet] was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.
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Terry Pratchett |
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c02d5dd
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Belief is one of the most powerful organic forces in the multiverse. It may not be able to move mountains, exactly. But it can create someone who can. People get exactly the wrong idea about belief. They think it works back to front. They think the sequence is, first object, then belief. In fact, it works the other way.
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Terry Pratchett |
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83dbef6
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You'll see! We're going to the palace. Fetch Angua. We might need her. And bring the search warrant.
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Terry Pratchett |
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870b982
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It is a long-cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing. If they are on the other side then this is a valuable bonus.
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war
casualties
tactics
military
strategy
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Terry Pratchett |
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3fa3443
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If you try to to take my bananas from me, I will reclaim them from your cold dead hands.
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Terry Pratchett |
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545dfdc
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IT WASN'T A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT. It should have been, but that's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is finished and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks up the overtime.
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Terry Pratchett |
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de9d462
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The city's full of people who you just see around.
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cities
strangers
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Terry Pratchett |
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6f5e1ba
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I would like you to teach [the orcs] civilised behaviour," said Ladyship coldly. He appeared to consider this. "Yes of course, I think that would be quite possible," he said. "And who would you send to teach the humans?"
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humanity
monsters
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Terry Pratchett |
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ab759fb
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You'd like Freedom, Truth, and Justice, wouldn't you, Comrade Sergeant?' said Reg encouragingly. 'I'd like a hard-boiled egg,' said Vimes, shaking the match out. There was some nervous laughter, but Reg looked offended. 'In the circumstances, Sergeant, I think we should set our sights a little higher--' 'Well, yes, we could,' said Vimes, coming down the steps. He glanced at the sheets of papers in front of Reg. The man cared. He really did...
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freedom
truth
hard-boiled-egg
justice
revolution
realism
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Terry Pratchett |
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50cbbd7
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If you put butter and salt on it, it tastes like salty butter.
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Terry Pratchett |
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6c71242
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You did something because it had always been done, and the explanation was, 'But we've always done it this way.' A million dead people can't have been wrong, can they?
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Terry Pratchett |
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fc42e5d
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Destiny is important, see, but people go wrong when they think it controls them. It's the other way around.
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Terry Pratchett |
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b318951
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I reckon responsible behavior is something to get when you grow older. Like varicose veins.
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growing-up
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Terry Pratchett |
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1c2b8a1
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What was supposed to be so special about a full moon? It was only a big circle of light. And the dark of the moon was only darkness. But halfway between the two, when the moon was between the worlds of light and dark, when even the moon lived on the edge...maybe then a witch could believe in the moon.
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Terry Pratchett |
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104f480
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Tragic heroes always moan when the gods take an interest in them, but it's the people the gods ignore who get the really tough deals.
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Terry Pratchett |
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1193883
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All the shops have been smashed open. There was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?" "Yeah," said Rincewind. "...Luters, I expect."
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Terry Pratchett |
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74a3c74
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The girls were expected to grow up to be somebody's wife. They were also expected to read and write, those being considered soft indoor jobs that were too fiddly for the boys.
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sexism
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Terry Pratchett |
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e8f2e1d
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The people who really run organizations are usually found several levels down, where it is still possible to get things done.
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Terry Pratchett |
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01468af
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Death strode away, stopped, and came back. He pointed a skeletal finger at The Duck Man. WHY, he said, ARE YOU WALKING AROUND WITH THAT DUCK? "What duck?" AH. SORRY."
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Terry Pratchett |
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2be7580
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Ridcully was to management what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup Association.
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Terry Pratchett |
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e4b43d2
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Contrary to popular belief and hope, people don't usually come running when they hear a scream. That's not how humans work. Humans look at other humans and say, 'Did you hear a scream?' because the first scream might have been you screaming inside your head, or a horse backfiring.
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screams
terror
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Terry Pratchett |
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86b7f4c
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Now ... if you trust in yourself ... and believe in your dreams ... and follow your star ... you'll still get beaten by people who spent time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Goodbye.
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learning
work
dreams
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Terry Pratchett |
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a33386e
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You call yourself some kind of goddess and you know nothing, madam, nothing. What don't die can't live. What don't live can't change. What don't change can't learn. The smallest creature that dies in the grass knows more than you.
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Terry Pratchett |
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fbce9ff
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Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!
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Terry Pratchett |
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c67661c
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Dogs are not like cats, who amusingly tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a tin opener that can be operated with a paw. Men made dogs, they took wolves and gave them human things--unnecessary intelligence, names, a desire to belong, and a twitching inferiority complex. All dogs dream wolf dreams, and know they're dreaming of biting their Maker. Every dog knows, deep in his heart, that he is a Bad Dog...
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dogs
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Terry Pratchett |
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9b5145b
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Thou shalt not submit thy god to market forces.
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humor
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Terry Pratchett |
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d49e4ff
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Mort was already aware that love made you feel hot and cold and cruel and weak, but he hadn't realized that it could make you stupid.
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Terry Pratchett |
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4103666
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Silverfish looked down. "Oh. Are you a dwarf?" Cuddy gave him a blank stare. "Are you a giant?" He said. "Me? Of course not!" "Ah. Then I must be a dwarf, yes."
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dwarf
perspective
perception
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Terry Pratchett |
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bce16d1
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you were so worried about legal and illegal that you never stopped to think about whether it was right or wrong.
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wrong
wright
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Terry Pratchett |
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193e171
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Just call in at the torturer on your way out. See when he can fit you in.
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Terry Pratchett |
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6b830da
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Sometimes I think a man could wander across the disc all his life and not see everything there is to see,' said Twoflower. 'And now it seems there are lots of other worlds as well. When I think I might die without seeing a hundredth of all there is to see it makes me feel,' he paused, then added, 'well, humble, I suppose. And very angry, of course.
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wanderlust
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Terry Pratchett |
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0f69e04
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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.
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Terry Pratchett |
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4bf6553
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As large as worlds. As old as Time. As patient as a brick.
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Terry Pratchett |
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7ea2195
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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.
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reform
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Terry Pratchett |
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f298ea8
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But that was just it - hate was exactly the right word. Hate is a force of attraction. Hate is just love with its back turned.
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Terry Pratchett |
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e0d1485
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YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES. "So we can believe the big ones?" YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING."
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lies
mercy
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Terry Pratchett |
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dfd1fae
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The senior wizards of Unseen University stood and looked at the door. There was no doubt that whoever had shut it wanted it to stay shut. Dozens of nails secured it to the door frame. Planks had been nailed right across. And finally it had, up until this morning, been hidden by a bookcase that had been put in front of it. 'And there's the sign, Ridcully,' said the Dean. 'You have read it, I assume. You know? The sign which says "Do not, und..
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Terry Pratchett |
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b4cee3e
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Samuel Vimes dreamed about Clues. He had a jaundiced view of Clues. He instinctively distrusted them. They got in the way. And he distrusted the kind of person who'd take one look at another man and say in a lordly voice to his companion, "Ah, my dear sir, I can tell you nothing except that he is a left-handed stonemason who has spent some years in the merchant navy and has recently fallen on hard times," and then unroll a lot of supercilio..
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sherlock-holmes-deduction
intuition
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Terry Pratchett |
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8a0a4ad
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the IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters,
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Terry Pratchett |
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ecf1883
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Lessee...he'd gone off after the funeral and gotten drunk. No, not drunk, another word, ended with "er." Drunker. that was it."
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Terry Pratchett |
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556290c
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Thunder rolled . . It rolled a six.
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Terry Pratchett |
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df30b2e
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In order to have a change of fortune at the last minute, you have to take your fortune to the last minute.
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Terry Pratchett |
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349792e
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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.
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Terry Pratchett |
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88fd5a1
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This was not the time to say "I don't know." The brothers had begging, hungry looks, like dogs waiting to be fed. They wanted an answer. It would be nice if it was the right answer, but if it couldn't be, then any answer would do, because then we would stop being worried...and then his mind caught alight. That's what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there's food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so the..
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religion
thinking
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Terry Pratchett |