Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1)

by Terry Pratchett

“If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly,” said Granny, fleeing into aphorisms, the last refuge of an adult under siege.

“They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.”

Sometimes you just have to go the way things take you, and I reckon you’re going to wizard school one way or the other.” Esk considered this. “You mean it’s my destiny?” she said at last. Granny shrugged. “Something like that. Probably. Who knows?”

“I look at it all like this,” he said. “Before I heard him talk, I was like everyone else. You know what I mean? I was confused and uncertain about all the little details of life. But now,” he brightened up, “while I’m still confused and uncertain it’s on a much higher plane, d’you see, and at least I know I’m bewildered about the really fundamental and important facts of the universe.” Treatle nodded. “I hadn’t looked at it like that,” he said, “but you’re absolutely right. He’s really pushed back the boundaries of ignorance. There’s so much about the universe we don’t know.”