Thief of Time (Discworld, #26; Death, #5)

by Terry Pratchett

He was puzzled that people seemed to think he was a boring conversationalist. Why, he could talk about all kinds of clocks.

Every society needs a cry like that, but only in a very few do they come out with the complete, unvarnished version, which is “Remember-The-Atrocity-Committed-Against-Us-Last-Time-That-Will-Excuse-The-Atrocity-That-We’re-About-To-Commit-Today! And So On! Hurrah!”