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73c374d
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History isn't like that. History unravels gently, like an old sweater. It has been patched and darned many times, reknitted to suit different people, shoved in a box under the sink of censorship to be cut up for the dusters of propaganda, yet it always - eventually - manages to spring back into its old familar shape. History has a habit of changing the people who think they are changing it. History always has a few tricks up its frayed slee..
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people
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Terry Pratchett |
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a994753
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William: "I'm sure we can all pull together, sir." Vetinari: "Oh, I do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions." --
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freedom
cooperation
revolution
organization
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Terry Pratchett |
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06ca328
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A weapon you held and didn't know how to use belonged to your enemy.
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Terry Pratchett |
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c5f4510
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William: "I'm sure we can all pull together, sir." Vetinari: "Oh, I do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions."
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freedom
cooperation
revolution
organization
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Terry Pratchett |
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2dab14c
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The worst thing you can do is nothing.
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Terry Pratchett |
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f153237
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First Thoughts are the everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second Thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third Thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by themselves. They're rare, and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.
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second-thought
third-thought
witchcraft
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Terry Pratchett |
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a7bfdec
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Every intelligent being, whether it breathes or not, coughs nervously at some time in its life.
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science
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Terry Pratchett |
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813bcb1
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Never build a dungeon you wouldn't be happy to spend the night in yourself. The world would be a happier place if more people remembered that.
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Terry Pratchett |
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4d53c83
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Few religions are definite about the size of Heaven, but on the planet Earth the Book of Revelation (ch. XXI, v.16) gives it as a cube 12,000 furlongs on a side. This is somewhat less than 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 cubic feet. Even allowing that the Heavenly Host and other essential services take up at least two thirds of this space, this leaves about one million cubic feet of space for each human occupant- assuming that every creature th..
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pets
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Terry Pratchett |
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b8c3e26
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They think written words are even more powerful,' whispered the toad. 'They think all writing is magic. Words worry them. See their swords? They glow blue in the presence of lawyers.
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Terry Pratchett |
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c53b9db
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Ninety percent of most magic merely consists of knowing one extra fact.
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Terry Pratchett |
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a8d02d0
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I was merely endeavoring to indicate that if we do not grab events by the collar they will have us by the throat. -Lord Vetinari
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Terry Pratchett |
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514e08c
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If per capita was a problem, decapita could be arranged
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funny
reaper-man
unseen-university
vetinari
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Terry Pratchett |
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36de6f1
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Oh, I very angry a lot of the time," said Tiffany, "but I just put it away somewhere until I can do something useful with it."
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Terry Pratchett |
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e0f0555
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There were plotters, there was no doubt about it. Some had been ordinary people who'd had enough. Some were young people with no money who objected to the fact that the world was run by old people who were rich. Some were in it to get girls. And some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what they called 'the people'. Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met d..
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Terry Pratchett |
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021843b
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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.
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morality
satire
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Terry Pratchett |
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d737805
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It is always useful to face an enemy who is prepared to die for his country," he read. "This means that both you and he have exactly the same aim in mind."
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Terry Pratchett |
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798614a
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There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.
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religion
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Terry Pratchett |
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d8439c2
|
It is true that words have power, and one of the things they are able to do is get out of someone's mouth before the speaker has the chance to stop them.
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words
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Terry Pratchett |
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57e4dd3
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I don't hold with paddlin' with the occult," said Granny firmly. "Once you start paddlin' with the occult you start believing in spirits, and when you start believing in spirits you start believing in demons, and then before you know where you are you're believing in gods. And then you're in trouble." "But all them things exist," said Nanny Ogg. "That's no call to go around believing in them. It only encourages 'em."
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occult
gods
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Terry Pratchett |
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f29bbd4
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Don't be smart. Smart is only a polished version of dumb. Try intelligence. It will surely see you through.
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Terry Pratchett |
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9ca257d
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The librarians were mysterious. It was said they could tell what book you needed just by looking at you, and they could take your voice away with a word.
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Terry Pratchett |
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7cf1061
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And gears," said Anathema. "My bike didn't have gears. I'm sure my bike didn't have gears." Crowley leaned over to the angel. "Oh lord, heal this bike," he whispered sarcastically. "I'm sorry, I just got carried away," hissed Aziraphale."
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aziraphale
bike
crowley
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Terry Pratchett |
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4b05adb
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Granny was an old-fashioned witch. She didn't do good for people, she did right by them.
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wisdom
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Terry Pratchett |
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3eeca42
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Million-to-one chances...crop up nine times out of ten.
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luck
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Terry Pratchett |
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0afb0c3
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And gears," said Anathema. "My bike didn't have gears. I'm sure my bike didn't have gears." Crowley leaned over to the angel. "Oh lord, heal this bike," he whispered sarcastically. "I'm sorry, I just got carried away," hissed Aziraphale." --
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aziraphale
bike
crowley
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Terry Pratchett |
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229e844
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I tell you, commander, it's true that some of the most terrible things in the world are done by people who think, genuinely think, that they're doing it for the best, especially if there is some god involved.
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Terry Pratchett |
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9da041b
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Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous.
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Terry Pratchett |
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69463ee
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It looked like the sort of book described in library catalogues as 'slightly foxed', although it would be more honest to admit that it looked as though it had been badgered, wolved and possibly beared as well.
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humour
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Terry Pratchett |
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fa75ba3
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Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off.
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Terry Pratchett |
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759ce9d
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And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.
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Terry Pratchett |
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f8833a0
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It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
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Terry Pratchett |
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c8f7aaa
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We've strayed into a zone with a high magical index,' he said. 'Don't ask me how. Once upon a time a really powerful magic field must have been generated here, and we're feeling the after-effects.' Precisely,' said a passing bush.
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Terry Pratchett |
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6b2d2cf
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You know, you're rather amusingly wrong.
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irony
humorous
funny
humor
witty-quotes
satire
wit
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Terry Pratchett |
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0ddde93
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The philosopher Didactylos has summed up an alternative hypothesis as "Things just happen. What the hell"."
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Terry Pratchett |
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8282522
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The Kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.
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Terry Pratchett |
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42808c7
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The important thing about having lots of things to remember is that you've got to go somewhere afterwards where you can remember them, you see? You've got to stop. You haven't really been anywhere until you've got back home.
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memories
travelling
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Terry Pratchett |
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4330736
|
In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?
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money
humor
medicine
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Terry Pratchett |
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0692aa1
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no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away... The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.
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Terry Pratchett |
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117e1e7
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The world is a globe -- the farther you sail, the closer to home you are.
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Terry Pratchett |
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c0383e0
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Always face what you fear. Have just enough money, never too much, and some string. Even if it's not your fault, it's your responsibility. Witches deal with things. Never stand between two mirrors. Never cackle. Do what you must do. Never lie, but you don't always have to be honest. Never wish. Especially don't wish upon a star, which is astronomically stupid. Open your eyes, and then open your eyes again.
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wish
star
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Terry Pratchett |
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1755c92
|
The trouble with thinking was that, once you started, you went on doing it.
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Terry Pratchett |
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7503382
|
Even our fears make us feel important, because we fear we might not be.
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Terry Pratchett |
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30ec6f8
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It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchantment itself. But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple.
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Terry Pratchett |