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Vetinari Quotes

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Vetinari Quotes

“...one day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I'm sure you'll agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature's wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”

Vetinari
Book:Unseen Academicals
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“You see, the only thing the good people are good at is overthrowing the bad people. And you're good at that, I'll grant you. But the trouble is it's the only thing you're good at. One day it's the ringing of the bells and the casting down of the evil tyrant, and the next it's everyone sitting around complaining that ever since the tyrant was overthrown no one's been taking out the trash. Because the bad people know how to plan. It's part of the specification, you might say. Every evil tyrant has a plan to rule the world. The good people don't seem to have the knack.”

InspirationalHumorGood PeopleVetinari
Book:Guards! Guards!
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“Oh, that's just Thud! That's easy!" yapped a voice. Both men turned to look at Horsefry, who had been made perky by sheer relief. "I used to play it when I was a kid," he burbled. It's boring. The dwarfs always win!" Gilt and Vetinari shared a look. It said: While I loathe you and every aspect of your personal philosophy to a depth unplummable by any line, I'll credit you at least with not being Crispin Horsefry.”

HateEnemyHumorousContemptLoathingVetinariGoing Postal
Book:Going Postal
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“Any sensible ruler would have killed off Leonard, and Lord Vetinari was extremely sensible and often wondered why he had not done so. He'd decided that it was because, imprisoned in the priceless, inquiring amber of Leonard's massive mind, underneath that bright investigative genius was a kind of willful innocence that might in lesser men be called stupidity. It was the seat and soul of that force which, down the millennia, had caused mankind to stick its fingers in the electric light socket of the Universe and play with the switch to see what happened - and then be very surprised when it did.”

MenMindKindSoulDonePlayLightMightUniverseForceLordHappenedMankindGeniusDecidedSticksFingersStupidityInnocenceSeatsMassiveSensibleRulersElectricPricelessAmberInquiringElectric LightVetinari
Author:Terry Pratchett
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“It was all very well going on about pure logic and how the universe was ruled by logic and the harmony of numbers, but the plain fact of the matter was that the Disc was manifestly traversing space on the back of a giant turtle and the gods had a habit of going round to atheists' houses and smashing their windows.”

WellsMatterFactsUniverseHouseSpaceNumbersHabitPureWindowLogicHarmonyRoundsAtheistGiantsTurtlesDiscsSmashingVetinari
Book:The Colour Of Magic: (Discworld Novel 1)
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“Down there - he said - are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any inequity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no.”

PeopleKindSaidSoulMightEvilSinAcceptingDarknessCreativeWorshipMassEverydaySinnerDragonsOriginalityBadnessHumdrumVetinariWithout A TraceDarkness Of The Soul
Author:Terry Pratchett
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“Technically, the city of Ankh-Morpork is a Tyranny, which is not always the same thing as a monarchy, and in fact even the post of Tyrant has been somewhat redefined by the incumbent, Lord Vetinari, as the only form of democracy that works. Everyone is entitled to vote, unless disqualified by reason of age or not being Lord Vetinari.”

Has BeensReasonFactsAgeFormCitiesLordDemocracyVoteTyrannyPostsTyrantsEntitledMonarchyIncumbentsVetinariAnkhRidcully
Book:Unseen Academicals
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