Maskerade (Discworld #18)

"Of course, it was nothing but an old superstition and belonged to the unenlightened days when 'maiden' or 'mother' or...the other one...encompassed every woman over the age of twelve or so, except maybe for nine months of her life. These days, any girl bright enough to count and sensible enough to take Nanny's advice could pull off being at lease one of them for quite some time.
Even so...it was an old superstition-older than books, older than writing-and beliefs like that were heavy weights on the rubber sheet of human experience, tending to pull people into their orbit."

"I've been through the mill, I have,' Bucket began,'and I made myself what I am today-'
Self-raising flour? thought Salzella
'-but I have to, er, declare a bit of a financial interest. Her dad did, er, in fact, er, lend me a fair whack of money to help me buy this place, and he made a heartfelt fatherly request in regard to his daughter. If I bring it to mind correctly, his exact words, er, were:"Don't make me have to break your legs." I don't expect your artistes to understand. It's a business thing. The gods help those who help themselves, that's my motto.'

"She didn't loathe the theater, because, had she done so, she would have avoided it completely. Granny now took every opportunity to visit the traveling theater that came to Landcre, and sat bold upright in the front row of every performance, staring fiercely. Even honest Punch and Judy men found her sitting among the children, snapping things like 'Taint so!' and 'Is that any way to behave?' As a result, Lancre was becoming known throughout the Sto Plains as a really tough gig."

Movable type was known in Ankh-Morpork, but if wizards heard about it they moved it where no one could find it. They generally didn't interfere with the running of the city, but when it came to movable type the pointy foot was put down hard. They had never explained why, and people didn't press wizards, not if you liked yourself the shape you were. They simpley worked around the problem, and engraved everything. This took a long time and meant taht Ankh-Morpork was, for example, denied the benefit of newspapers, leaving the population to fool themselves as best they could."

That was the good thing about black. You could be nearly anything, wearing black.Mother Superior or Madam, it was really just a matter of the style. It just depended on the details.

"Well, he looks aristocratic-" Nanny began.
'He looks like a beautiful brainless bully,' Granny corrected her.
'Aristocratic,' repeated Nanny.
'Same thing.'

There was, indeed, a very short man in a suit intended for a rather larger man; this was especially the case with the opera cloak, which actually trailed on the floor behind him to give the overall impression of a superhero who had spent too much time around the Kryptonite."

Andre gave Granny a long look, like a man weighing up his chances. He must have decided they were bobbing along the ceiling.
“I… hang around in dark places looking for trouble,” he said.
“Really? There’s a nasty name for people like that,” snapped Granny.
“Yes,” said Andre. “It’s ‘policeman’.”

Andre gave Granny a long look, like a man weighing up his chances. He must have decided they were bobbing along the ceiling.
“I… hang around in dark places looking for trouble,” he said.
“Really? There’s a nasty name for people like that,” snapped Granny.
“Yes,” said Andre. “It’s ‘policeman’.”