Shifa > Shifa's Quotes

“PLEASE BELIEVE that I am falling apart.”
― Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

“But sixteen years without optimism had taken a heavy toll;”
― Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

“I am by nature an inward man, he said silently into the disconnected phone. I have struggled, in my fashion, to find my way towards an appreciation of the high things, towards a small measure of fineness. On good days I felt it was within my grasp, somewhere within me, somewhere within. But it eluded me. I have become embroiled, in things, in the world and in its messes, and I cannot resist. The grotesque has me, as before the quotidian had me, in its thrall”
― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

“You made me confess the fears that I have. But I will tell you also what I do not fear. I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too.”
― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

“I should have learned this, she thought. I wanted to learn fire, and pain, but I should have learned people.”
― Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight

“Don't be smart. Smart is only a polished version of dumb. Try intelligence. It will surely see you through.”
― Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

“But we were dragons. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless and terrible. But this much I can tell you, we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.”
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

“Always face what you fear. Have just enough money, never too much, and some string. Even if it’s not your fault, it’s your responsibility. Witches deal with things. Never stand between two mirrors. Never cackle. Do what you must do. Never lie, but you don’t always have to be honest. Never wish. Especially don’t wish upon a star, which is astronomically stupid. Open your eyes, and then open your eyes again.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

“Mere animals couldn’t possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.”
― Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

“Your own brain ought to have the decency to be on your side!”
― Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith

“[The pamphlet] was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.”
― Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

“If you try to to take my bananas from me, I will reclaim them from your cold dead hands.”
― Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

“After all, when you seek advice from someone it's certainly not because you want them to give it. You just want them to be there while you talk to yourself.”
― Terry Pratchett, Jingo

“I never said nothing..."
"I know you never! I could hear you not saying anything! You've got the loudest silences I ever did hear from anyone who wasn't dead!”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“I'll never be like this again . . . I'll never again feel as tall as the sky and as old as the hills and as strong as the sea. I've been given something for a while, and the price of it is that I have to give it back.

And the reward is giving it back, too. No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and see it all as it really is...no one could stand that for long.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men

“If Not You, Who Else?”
― Terry Pratchett, Only You Can Save Mankind

“If you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.”
― Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

“There was no safety. There was no pride. All there was, was money. Everything became money, and money became everything. Money treated us as if we were things, and we died.”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

“They obeyed, as wise men do when a woman puts her foot down . . .”
― Terry Pratchett, Nation

“There was a man and he had eight sons. Apart from that, he was nothing more than a comma on the page of History. It's sad, but that's all you can say about some people.”
― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

“...the little man's total obliviousness to all forms of danger somehow made danger so discouraged that it gave up and went away.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic

“Balance. It was all about balance. That had been one of the first things that she had learned: the centre of the seesaw has neither up nor down, but upness and downness flow through it while it remains unmoved. You had to be the centre of the seesaw so the pain flowed through you, not into you. It was very hard. But she could do it!”
― Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight

“The smug mask of virtue triumphant could be almost as horrible as the face of wickedness revealed.”
― Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum

“I see evil when I look in my shaving mirror. It is, philosophically, present everywhere in the universe in order, apparently, to highlight the existence of good. I think there is more to this theory, but I tend to burst out laughing at this point.”
― Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

“Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

“BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT, IS THAT THE IDEA?

“That’s about the size of it, master. A good god line, that. Don’t give ’em too much and tell ’em to be happy with it. Jam tomorrow, see.”

THIS IS WRONG. Death hesitated. I MEAN…IT’S RIGHT TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT. BUT YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT HAVING. THERE’S NO POINT IN BEING HAPPY ABOUT HAVING NOTHING.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“‘Yes, but humans are more important than animals,’ said Brutha.
‘This is a point of view often expressed by humans,’ said Om.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

“Few things are hidden from a quiet child with good eyesight.”
― Terry Pratchett

“You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...] Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'.”
― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

“Om began to feel the acute depression that steals over every realist in the presence of an optimist.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods