Terry Pratchett and Terry Brooks
Esk began to feel the shape of the answer and she didn't like it much. It was like a lot of Granny's answers. Just a word trick. She just said things you knew all the time, but in a different way so they sounded important.
"I think I know," she said at last.
"Out with it, then."
"It's in sort of two parts."
"Well?"
"It's a witch's hat because you wear it. But you're a witch because you wear the hat. Um."
"So-" prompted Granny.
"So people see you coming in the hat and the cloak and they know you're a witch and that's why your magic works?" said Esk.
"That's right," said Granny. "It's called headology." She tapped her silver hair, which was drawn into a tight bun that could crack rocks.
"But it's not real!" Esk protested. "That's not magic, it's- its-"
"Listen," said Granny, "if you give someone a bottle of red jollop for their wind it may work, right, but if you want it to work for sure, then you let their mind make it work for them. Tell 'em it's moonbeams bottled in fairy wine or something. Mumble over it a bit. It's the same with cursing."
"Cursing?" said Esk, weakly
"Aye, cursing, my girl, and no need to look so shocked! You'll curse, when the need comes. When you're alone, and there's no help to hand, and-"
She hesitated and, uncomfortably aware of Esk's questioning eyes, finished lamely: "-and people aren't showing respect. Make it loud, make it complicated, make it long, and make it up if you have to, but it'll work all right. Next day, when they hit their thumb or they fall off a ladder or their dog drops dead, they'll remember you. They'll behave better next time."
"But it still doesn't seem like magic," said Esk, scuffing the dust with her feet.
"I saved a man's life once," said Granny. "Special medicine, twice a day. Boiled water with a bit of berry juice in it. Told him I'd bought it from dwarves. That's the biggest part of doct'rin, really. Most people'll get over most things if they put their minds to it, you just have to give them an interest."
Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites. Pages 34, 35
...Everywhere is so much like nowhere that you can't really tell the difference.
Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites. Page 174
Million to one chances...crop up nine times out of ten
Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites. Page 157
..nothing existed unless people thought it did, and the world was really only there at all because people kept on imagining it.
Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites. Page 128
...it is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done. A person ignorant of the possibility of failure can be a halfbrick in the path of the bicycle history.
Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites. Page 82
...the awesome splendor of the universe is much easier to deal with if you think of it as a series of small chunks.
Terry Pratchett, Mort. Page 20
People don't want to see what can't possibly exist.
Terry Pratchett, Mort. Page 28
He saw old friends as well, some of whom had been barely grown when he had seen them last. Some had been close once. But they had traveled down different roads, and al had done too far to turn back. Or perhaps it was he who had gone too far. They were strangers now, not in appearance or voice, for those were still familiar, but in choices made that long since had shaped their lives. He shared nothing with them but memories of what had once been. It was sad, but not surprising. Time stole away commitments and loosened ties. Friendships were reduced to tales of the past and vague promises for the future, neither strong enough to recover what was lost. But that was what life did-it took you down separate roads until one day you found yourself alone.
Terry Brooks, First King of Shannara. Pages 109, 110
...a direct approach was always best when you were trying to catch someone off guard, and...you tended to notice less of what was right before your eyes than of what lurked at the fringes of your vision.
Terry Brooks, First King of Shannara. Page 147
Necessity was a higher god than truth.
Terry Brooks, Sword of Shannara. Page 253
The above quotes are excerpts from books. The appearance of these quotes on this page is in no way endorsed by Terry Pratchett, Terry Brooks, or their respective publishers
