Quotes by Terry Pratchett

You want fantasy? Heres one... Theres this species that lives on a planet a few miles above molten rock and a few miles below a vacuum thatd suck the air right out of them. They live in a brief geological period between ice ages, when giant asteroids have temporarily stopped smacking into the surface. As far as they can tell, theres nowhere else in the universe where they could stay alive for ten seconds. And what do they call their fragile little slice of space and time? They call it real life.

Far more beguiling than the idea that evil can be destroyed by throwing a piece of expensive jewelry into a volcano is the possibility that evil can be defused by talking. The fantasy of justice is more interesting than the fantasy of fairies, and more truly fantastic.

Too much alleged ‘fantasy’ is just empty sugar, life with the crusts cut off.

- Surely you have considered terrorist activity?There was another pause. Then the spokesman said, in the quiet tones of someone who has had enough and who is going to quit after this and raise chickens somewhere, Yes, I suppose we must. All we need to do is find some terrorists who are capable of taking an entire nuclear reactor out of its can while its running and without anyone noticing. It weighs about a thousand tons and is forty feet high. So theyll be quite strong terrorists. Perhaps youd like to ring them up, sir, and ask them questions in that supercilious, accusatory way of yours.-- The BBC interviews a nuclear spokesperson (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

I just think the world ought to be more sort of organized.Thats just fantasy, said Twoflower.I know. Thats the trouble. Rincewind sighed again.

Humans need fantasy to be human.

Its rude to stare, said the troll. Its mouth opened with a little crest of foam, and shut again in exactly the same way that water closes over a stone. Is it? Why? asked Rincewind. How does he hold himself together, his mind screamed at him. Why doesnt he spill?

Fantasy imposes order on the universe. Or, at least, it superimposes order on the universe. And it is a human order. Reality tells us that we exist for a brief, beleaguered span in a cold infinity; fantasy tells us that the figures in the foreground are important. Fantasy peoples the alien Outside, and it doesn’t matter a whole lot if it peoples it with good guys or bad guys. Putting ‘Hy-Brasil’ on the map is a step in the right direction, but if you can’t manage that, then ‘Here Be Dragons is better than nothing. Better than the void.

In fact the Gods were as puzzled by all this as the wizards were, but they were powerless to do anything and in any case were engaged in an eons-old battle with the Ice Giants, who had refused to return the lawnmower.

Ill be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when theres evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

Preston, I dont think this creature could ever find its way into your head. Quite apart from anything else, it seems pretty crowded and complicated to me.

The living often don’t appreciate how complicated the world looks when you are dead, because while death frees the mind from the straitjacket of three dimensions it also cuts it away from Time, which is only another dimension. So while the cat that rubbed up against his invisible legs was undoubtedly the same cat that he had seen a few minutes before, it was also quite clearly a tiny kitten and a fat, half-blind old moggy and every stage in between. All at once. Since it had started off small it looked like a white, catshaped carrot, a description that will have to do until people invent proper four-dimensional adjectives.

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.

It is true that words have power, and one of the things they are able to do is get out of someones mouth before the speaker has the chance to stop them.

Adora Belle fought back, and to make sure fought back even before she was attacked.

Theres always a story. Its all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everythings got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.

The universe, they say, depended for its operation on the balance of four forces which they identified as charm, persuasion, uncertainty, and bloody-mindedness.

Thats No-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock, mistress, said Not-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock. Ye were one jock short, he added helpfully.

Its lies. Its all lies. Some of them are just prettier than others, thats all. People see what they think is there.

My personal theory is that he has a very firm grasp upon reality, its simply not a reality the rest of us have ever met before.