Terry Pratchett’s magnificent sense of humor in 36 quotes

One of the most sharp-witted fantasy writers of our age passed away on the 12th March 2015. Sir Terence Pratchett, the talented English satirical writer, was truly like no other: talented, mind-blowingly witty and extraordinary courageous. The author of the Discworld series and famous ’Unadulterated cat’ had been fighting a rare form of Alzheimer’s for a good couple of years prior to his death. Due to this, Pratchett could no longer write, but he continued working nevertheless by vocally recording his new works and using speech recognition programs. And yet despite his hardships, Pratchett’s books were still filled with his singular ironic love of life.

We here at Bright Side decided to share some quotes from Terry Pratchett’s books and interviews. Once again, these sayings (at times, they’re close to proverbs) just go to show that humor and engaging in one’s favorite activities are the best medicines available to us all.

1. So, everything in this world ran its natural course. Except for everything else that went heels over head.
2. Not every name fits a person. A name should be comfortable to mop the floors in.
3. Nobody likes to sit up to their ears in crap, and this is even more true with regards to flowers, since they keep growing.
4. It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you’re attempting can’t be done.
5. Give a cat a name you wouldn’t mind shouting out in a strained, worried voice around midnight.
6. Human beings make life so interesting.
7. Do you know that in a universe so full of wonders they have managed to invent boredom.
8. Always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show.
9. Hate is just love with its back turned.
10. Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.
11. Credulous: having views about the world, the universe and humanity’s place in it that are shared by both very unsophisticated people and the most intelligent and advanced mathematicians and physicists.
12. It is a horrible feeling to find things in your head and not know how they fitted in there.
13. Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.
14. A man that can be bought is usually worthless.
15. You can’t go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it’s just a cage.
16. Everything looks interesting until you do it.
17. People are content to wait a long time for salvation, but prefer dinner to turn up inside an hour.
18. People who don’t need people need people around to know that they were the kind of people who don’t need people.
19. If cats looked like frogs, we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember.
20. We’ve got a lot of experience of not having any experience.
21. When you step off a cliff, your life takes a very definite direction.
22. Sometimes you laugh because you’ve got no more room for crying.
23. Cowards make the best strategists.
24. Death, unlike taxes, only turns up once.
25. Sometimes it does good to punish a man.
26. Only those with their feet on rock can build castles in the air.
27. If the abnormal goes on long enough it becomes the normal.
28. Truly important things are never written down because people always remember what’s really important to them.
29. Chaos always defeats order, because it is better organized.
30. It is true that words have power, and one of the things they are able to do is get out of someone’s mouth before the speaker has the chance to stop them.
31. Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
32. Whoever had created humanity had left a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.
33. Sometimes the only thing you could do for people was to be there.
34. A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
35. Be careful what you wish for. You never know who will be listening.
36. I sit here sometimes bewildered and think to myself, ’Actually, your job is to sit here writing another book. Changing the world is for other people.’ and then I come back to myself with ’No it isn’t!’.

Last July was the first time when Terry Pratchett wasn’t able to attend an international Discworld convention due to poor health. However, the writer addressed his fans, wishing them to have a tremendous time.