Interesting Times (Discworld, #17; Rincewind, #5)

by Terry Pratchett

True, he played the accordion for amusement, and disliked cats intensely, and had a habit of dabbing his upper lip with his napkin after his tea ceremony in a way that had made Mrs. Beneficent Winds commit murder in her mind on a regular basis over the years.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with the accordion. And while I love cats myself I can see why a reasonable person might not. The napkin thing does sound dreadful, though.

He finds it hard to understand empty bravura. May I venture to suggest therefore that you refrain from phrases like ‘I would rather die than betray my Emperor’ or ‘Go ahead and do your worst’ unless you really, really mean them.

A nice way of putting that.

A voice said: “Would you rather die than betray your Emperor?” A second voice said: “This is not a trick question.”

Ah. Along those same lines, then.

Hundreds of thousands of men looked like quite a lot of men when you saw them close to.

That's...I mean...Well, yes.