A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2)

by Terry Pratchett

“Oh, no,” said Miss Level, genuinely shocked. “You can’t not help people just because they’re stupid or forgetful or unpleasant. Everyone’s poor around here. If I don’t help them, who will?”

“There isn’t a way things should be. There’s just what happens, and what we do.”

“Well, couldn’t you help him by magic?” “I see to it that he’s in no pain, yes,” said Miss Level. “But that’s just herbs.” “It’s still magic. Knowing things is magical, if other people don’t know them.”

“The locked-up bit was the important bit,” said Mistress Weatherwax. “Learnin’ how not to do things is as hard as learning how to do them. Harder, maybe.

“But . . . all right, it just doesn’t seem . . . fair. I mean, I wish the Feegles hadn’t done that. I’m sure I could have . . . sorted it out somehow, saved up . . .” “It’s an unfair world, child. Be glad you have friends.”