The invisible people knew that happiness is not the natural state of mankind, and is never achieved from the outside in.

People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around.

Progress just means bad things happen faster.

Wisdom is one of the few things that looks bigger the further away it is.

Humanity's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

Where's the pleasure in bein' the winner if the loser ain't alive to know they've lost?

Cats gravitate to kitchens like rocks gravitate to gravity.

A mirror can contain the reflection of the whole universe, a whole skyful of stars in a piece of silvered glass no thicker than a breath.

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.

Blessings be on this house, " Granny said, perfunctorily. It was always a good opening remark for a witch. It concentrated people's minds on what other things might be on this house.

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.

Learning is not cumpulsory... neither is survival.

Trust the one with experience, not the one with ideas.

The myriad choices of his fateSet themselves out upon a plateFor him to chooseWhat had he to lose

Be yourself. Authenticity trumps cool every time.

But man is so addicted to systems and to abstract conclusions that he is prepared deliberately to distort the truth, to close his eyes and ears, but justify his logic at all cost.

Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops.

Cinema teaches us about the human body and how we look at things.

Boxing isn't just about brute strength; it's about skill and outwitting your opponent.

There cannot be a greater mistake than that of looking superciliously upon practical applications of science. The life and soul of science is its practical application.

There were many at Bell Labs and MIT who compared Shannon's insight to Einstein's. Others found that comparison unfair - unfair to Shannon.