Hat Full Of Sky Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Hat Full Of Sky. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
It's still magic even if you know how it's done.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
There isn't a way things should be. There's just what happens, and what we do.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Even if it's not your fault, it's your responsibility.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
There's always a story. It's all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything's got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Knowing things is magical, if other people don't know them.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Witches were a bit like cats. They didn’t much like one another’s company, but they did like to know where all the other witches were, just in case they needed them.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
First Thoughts are the everyday thoughts. Everyone has those. Second Thoughts are the thoughts you think about the way you think. People who enjoy thinking have those. Third Thoughts are thoughts that watch the world and think all by themselves. They’re rare, and often troublesome. Listening to them is part of witchcraft.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Once we were blobs in the sea, and then fishes, and then lizards and rats and then monkeys, and hundreds of things in between. This hand was once a fin, this hand once had claws! In my human mouth I have the pointy teeth of a wolf and the chisel teeth of a rabbit and the grinding teeth of a cow! Our blood is as salty as the sea we used to live in! When we're frightened, the hair on our skin stands up, just like it did when we had fur. We are history! Everything we've ever been on the way to becoming us, we still are. [...] I'm made up of the memories of my parents and my grandparents, all my ancestors. They're in the way I look, in the colour of my hair. And I'm made up of everyone I've ever met who's changed the way I think.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Do you know what it feels like to be aware of every star, every blade of grass? Yes. You do. You call it 'opening your eyes again.' But you do it for a moment. We have done it for eternity. No sleep, no rest, just endless... endless experience, endless awareness. Of everything. All the time. How we envy you, envy you! Lucky humans, who can close your minds to the endless deeps of space! You have this thing you call... boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song — it went 'Twinkle twinkle little star....' What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
If you don't know when to be a human being, you don't know when to be a witch.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Learnin’ how not to do things is as hard as learning how to do them.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
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 (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
It's always surprising to be reminded that while you're watching and thinking about people, all knowing and superior, they're watching and thinking about you, right back at you.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
It’s quite easy to accidentally overhear people talking downstairs if you hold an upturned glass to the floorboards and accidentally put your ear to it.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Some people believe that when you die, you cross the River of Death and have to pay the ferryman. People don’t seem to worry about that these days. Perhaps there’s a bridge now.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man canna feel the chilly winds o' fate lashing aroound his netheres wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Witches were a bit like cats. They didn’t much like one another’s company but they did like to know where all the other witches were, just in case they needed them. And what you might need them for was to tell you, as a friend, that you were beginning to cackle.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Taint what a horse looks like, it’s what a horse be.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
It's an unfair world, Child. Be glad you have friends.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
You couldn’t say: It’s not my fault. You couldn’t say: It’s not my responsibility. You could say: I will deal with this. You didn’t have to want to. But you had to do it.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
This book had two authors, and they were both the same person.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Tiffany has been apprenticing as a witch by visiting people in need with her mentor. After meeting with one particularly sad case, she tells her mentor, "It shouldn't be like this." Her mentor replies, "There isn't a way things should be. There's just what happens, and what we do.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
AAaargwannawannaaaagongongonaargggaaaaBLOON!" which is the traditional sound of a very small child learning that with balloons, as with life itself, it is important to know when not to let go of the string. The whole point of balloons is to teach small children this.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
I WAS NOT EXPECTING A NAC MAC FEEGLE TODAY, said Death. OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE WORN PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, HA HA.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
She strode across the moors as if distance was a personal insult.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
It's a terrible thing for a man when his woman gangs up on him wi' a toad
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
On the other hand the Nac Mac Feegle were always looking for a fight, in a cheerful sort of way, and when they had no one to fight they fought one another, and if one was all by himself he’d kick his own nose just to keep in practice.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Did she help people?" Miss Level added. ... ... "She made them help one another, she said. "She made them help themselves." ... ... Miss Level sighed. "Not many of us are that good," she said.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Rain don’t fall on a witch if she doesn’t want it to, although personally I prefer to get wet and be thankful.” “Thankful for what?” said Tiffany. “That I’ll get dry later.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
It’s a bad case o’ the thinkin’ he’s caught, missus. When a man starts messin’ wi’ the readin’ and the writin’ then he’ll come doon with a dose o’ the thinkin’ soon enough. I’ll fetch some o’ the lads and we’ll hold his heid under water until he stops doin’ it, ‘tis the only cure. It can kill a man, the thinkin’.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
And the Nac Mac Feegle are, well, they’re like tiny little Scottish Smurfs who have seen Braveheart altogether too many times.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
The only hat worth wearing was the one you made for yourself, not one you bought, not one you were given. Your own hat, for your own head. Your own future, not someone else's.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming.
Terry Pratchett
Mistress Weatherwax is the head witch, then, is she?’ 'Oh no!’ said Miss Level, looking shocked. 'Witches are all equal. We don’t have things like head witches. That’s quite against the spirit of witchcraft.’ 'Oh, I see,’ said Tiffany. 'Besides,’ Miss Level added, 'Mistress Weatherwax would never allow that sort of thing.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
The Nac Mac Feegle (also called Pictsies, The Wee Free Men, The Little Men, and “Person or Persons Unknown, Believed to be Armed”)
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Now that’s what I call magic—seein’ all that, dealin’ with all that, and still goin’ on. It’s sittin’ up all night with some poor old man who’s leavin’ the world, taking away such pain as you can, comfortin’ their terror, seein’ ‘em safely on their way…and then cleanin’ ‘em up, layin’ ‘em out, making ‘em neat for the funeral, and helpin’ the weeping widow strip the bed and wash the sheets—which is, let me tell you, no errand for the fainthearted—and stayin’ up the next night to watch over the coffin before the funeral, and then going home and sitting down for five minutes before some shouting angry man comes bangin’ on your door ‘cuz his wife’s havin’ difficulty givin’ birth to their first child and the midwife’s at her wits’ end and then getting up and fetching your bag and going out again…We all do that, in our own way, and she does it better’n me, if I was to put my hand on my heart. That is the root and heart and soul and center of witchcraft, that is. The soul and center!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
An' writin' even goes on sayin' a man's wurds after he's deid! Ye cannae tell me that's right!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Tomorrow, your job is to change the world into a better place. Today, my job is to see that everyone gets there.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Writing stays. It fastens words down. A man can speak his mind and some nasty wee scuggan will write it down and who knows what he’ll do with those words? Ye might as weel nail a man’s shadow tae the wall!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
She collected silence like other people collected strings. But she had a way of saying nothing that said it all.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
never ask the tight-rope walker how he keeps his balance. if he stops to think about it, he falls off
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Sometimes the moon is light and sometimes it's in shadow, but you should always remember it's the same moon.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
You couldn't say: It's not my fault. You couldn't say: It's not my responsibility. You could say: I will deal with this. You didn't have to want to. But you had to do it.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Learning how not to do things is as hard as learning how to do them. Harder, maybe. There'd be a sight more frogs in this world if I didn't know how not to turn people into them. And big pink balloons, too.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
YOU ARE NOT AFRAID? 'Not yet. But, er...which way to the egress, please?' There was a pause. Then Death said, in a puzzled voice: ISN'T THAT A FEMALE EAGLE?
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Tiffany’s father didn’t cry but gave her a silver dollar and rather gruffly told her to be sure to write home every week, which is a man’s way of crying.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
No’ on this raid, Wullie. A’m staying here. I have every confidence that ye’ll be a fiiinne leader on this raid an’ not totally mess it up like ye did the last seventeen times!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
When I'm old I shall wear midnight, she'd decided. But, for now, she'd had enough of darkness.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Here you are. Would you like some pickles?” “Pickles gives me the wind something awful.” “In that case—” “Oh, I wasn’t saying no,” Mistress Weatherwax said, taking two large pickled cucumbers.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
She was never likely to say out loud, “I wish that I could marry a handsome prince,” but knowing that if you did you’d probably open the door to find a stunned prince, a tied-up priest, and a Nac Mac Feegle grinning cheerfully and ready to act as best man definitely made you watch what you said.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Oh, I daresay they're all very well as decoration, somethin' nice to look at while you're workin', somethin' for show, but the start and finish, the start and finish, is helpin' people when life is on the edge. Even people you don't like. Stars is easy, people is hard.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
There was, indeed, no life. Stillness and silence ruled here. In fact Tiffany, who cared a lot about getting words right, would have said it was a hush, which is not the same as silence. A hush is what you get in cathedrals at midnight.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
If you're too afraid of going astray you won't go anywhere
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
I dinna trust that Q, that’s a letter than has it in for a man. That’s a letter with a sting, that one!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
someone has o speak up for them as has no voices
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Stars is easy, people is hard.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Daft Wullie had raised a finger. 'Point o' order, Rob,' he said, 'but it was a wee bittie hurtful there for you to say I dinna hae the brains of a beetle...' Rob hesitated, but only for a moment. 'Aye, Daft Wullie, ye are right in whut ye say. It was unricht o' me to say that. It was the heat o' the moment, an' I am full sorry for it. As I stand here before ye now, I will say: Daft Wullie, ye DO hae the brains o' a beetle, an' I'll fight any scunner who says different!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Really, you might make an effort. Honestly, I don't know what's the matter with all of you!" I do, Tiffany thought. You're like a dog worrying sheep all the time. You don't give them time to obey you and you don't let them know when they've done things right. You just keep barking.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
And then...they thought I was evil," she said, over another shoulder. "Are you?" said Tiffany Both of Miss Level turned around shocked. "What kind of question is that to ask anyone?" she said. "Um...the obvious one?" said Tiffany. "I mean, if they said, 'Yes, I am! Mwahahaha!' that would save a lot of trouble, wouldn't it
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
The R is the wrong way roond and you left the A and a Y out of Anybody,' said Jeannie, because it is a wife's job to stop her husband actually exploding with pride. 'Ach, wumman, I didna' ken which way the fat man wuz walkin',' said Rob, airly waving a hand. 'Ye canna trust the fat man. That's the kind of thing us nat'ral writin' folk knows about. One day he might walk this way, next day he might walk that way.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
what are you doing here?" he asked. "I live here..." I answered sarcastically.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Granny Aching had never been at home with words. She collected silence like other people collected string. But she had a way of saying nothing that said it all.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Few things are hidden from a quiet child with good eyesight,
Terry Pratchett (Tiffany Aching 4-Book Collection: A Hat Full of Sky / The Wee Free Men / Wintersmith / I Shall Wear Midnight)
I happen to be one of those people whose memory shuts down under pressure. The answers would come to me in the middle of the night in my sleep! Besides, I am a millionaire.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Sometimes the moon is light and sometimes it’s in shadow, but you should always remember it’s the same moon.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
But I thought she thought he was just a big pile of jobbies?” he said. “I seen her oout walkin’, an’ when he comes ridin’ past, she sticks her nose in th’ air and looks the other wa’. In fact, sometimes I seen her wait aroound a full five-and-twenty minutes for him tae come past, just so’s she can do that.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Child, you’ve come here to learn what’s true and what’s not, but there’s little I can teach you that you don’t already know. You just don’t know you know it, and you’ll spend the rest of your life learning what’s already in your bones. And that’s the truth.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
She felt happy and wondered if she'd ever felt this happy before. The gold light, the falling seeds, the dancing bees... it was all one thing. This was the opposite of the dark desert. Here, light was everywhere and filled her up inside. She could feel herself here but see herself from above, twirling with a buzzing shadow that sparkled golden as the light struck the bees. Moments like this paid for it all.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
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 colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
You humans are so good at ignoring things. You are almost blind and almost deaf. You look at a tree and see…just a tree, a stiff weed. You don’t see its history, feel the pumping of the sap, hear every insect in the bark, sense the chemistry of the leaves, notice the hundred shades of green, the tiny movements to follow the sun, the subtle growth of wood...
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
What’s your name, pictsie?’ ‘Awf’ly Wee Billy Bigchin Mac Feegle, mistress.’ ‘You’re very small, aren’t you?’ ‘Only for my height, mistress.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Well, the thing about the obvious,” said Miss Level, “is that it so often isn’t. .
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
The trouble was, explaining to a Feegle how dangerous things were going to be only got them more enthusiastic.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
You can't not help people just because they're stupid or forgetful or unpleasant... If I don't help them, who will?
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Witches tended to be needed when human beings were meeting the dangerous edges of their lives, the places where there is no map.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Rain don't fall on a with if she doesn't want it to, although personally I prefer to get wet and be thankful." "Thankful for what?" said Tiffany. "That I'll get dry later.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Petulia's expression didn't change for a while. Then she said: 'So it WAS a fairy, then?' 'Well, yes. Technically.' The round pink face smiled. 'Good, I did wonder, because it was, um, you know...having a wee up against one of Miss Level's garden gnomes?' 'DEFINITELY a Feegle,' said Tiffany.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
You're very ugly for fairies," she said. "Aye, well, the ones you gen'rally see are for the pretty flowers, ye ken," said Rob Anybody, inventing desperately. "We're more for the stingin' nettles and bindweed an' Old Man's Troosers an' thistles, okay? It wouldna be fair for only the bonny flowers tae have fairies noo, would it? It'd prob'ly be against the law, eeh?...
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
I dinna like this, Rob,' said a Feegle. 'It's too quiet.' 'Aye, Slightly Sane Georgie, it is that-' 'You are my sunshine, my only su-' 'Daft Wullie!' snapped Rob, without taking his eyes off the strange landscape. The singing stopped. 'Aye, Rob?' said Daft Wullie from behind him. 'Ye ken I said I'd tell ye when ye wuz guilty o' stupid and inna-pro-pre-ate behavior?' 'Aye, Rob,' said Daft Wullie. 'That wuz another one o' those times, wuz it?' 'Aye.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Where I come from, Annagramma, they have the Sheepdog Trials. Shepherds travel there from all over to show off their dogs. And there're silver crooks and belts with silver buckles and prizes of all kinds, Annagramma, but do you know what the big prize is? No, you wouldn't. Oh, there are judges, but they don't count, not for the big prize. There is - there was a little old lady who was always at the front of the crowd, leaning on the hurdles with her pipe in her mouth with the two finest sheepdogs ever pupped sitting at her feet. Their names were Thunder and Lightning, and they moved so fast, they set the air on fire and their coats outshone the sun, but she never, ever put them in the Trials. She knew more about sheep than even sheep know. And what every young shepherd wanted, really wanted, wasn't some silly cup or belt but to see her take pipe out of her mouth as he left the arena and quietly say 'That'll do,' because that meant he was a real shepherd and all the other shepherds knew it, too. And if you'd told him he had to challenge her, he'd cuss at you and stamp his foot and tell you he'd sooner spit the sun dark. How could he ever win? She was shepherding. It was the whole of her life. What you took away from her you'd take away from yourself. You don't understand that, do you? But it's the heart and the soul and center of it! The soul... and... center!
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Tiffany jumped when she saw a balloon sail up above the trees, catch the wind, and swoop away, but it turned out to be just a balloon and not a lump of excess Brian. She could tell this because it was followed by a long scream of rage mixed with a roar of complaint: “AAaargwannawannaaaagongongonaargggaaaaBLOON!” which is the traditional sound of a very small child learning that with balloons, as with life itself, it is important to know when not to let go of the string. The whole point of balloons is to teach small children this.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
People wanted the world to be a story, because stories had to sound right and they had to make sense. People wanted the world to make sense.
Terry Pratchett (Tiffany Aching 4-Book Collection: A Hat Full of Sky / The Wee Free Men / Wintersmith / I Shall Wear Midnight)
Being human is knowing when not to be the monkey or the lizard or any of the other old echoes.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Tiffany looked around the woods. The shadows were growing longer, but they didn’t worry her. Bits of Miss Tick’s teachings floated through her head: 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. “Miss
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Tiffany took a deep breath. This was about words, and she knew about words. ‘Here is a story to believe,’ she said. ‘Once we were blobs in the sea, and then fishes, and then lizards and rats and then monkeys, and hundreds of things in between. This hand was once a fin, this hand once had claws! In my human mouth I have the pointy teeth of a wolf and the chisel teeth of a rabbit and the grinding teeth of a cow! Our blood is as salty as the sea we used to live in! When we’re frightened the hair on our skins stands up, just like it did when we had fur. We are history! Everything we’ve ever been on the way to becoming us, we still are. Would you like the rest of the story?
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
British author G. K. Chesterton summarized the role of fantasy very well. He said its purpose was to take the everyday, commonplace world and lift it up and turn it around and show it to us from a different perspective, so that once again we see it for the first time and realize how marvelous it is.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
I’m made up of the memories of my parents and grandparents, all my ancestors. They’re in the way I look, in the color of my hair. And I’m made up of everyone I’ve ever met who’s changed the way I think. So who is
Terry Pratchett (Tiffany Aching 4-Book Collection: A Hat Full of Sky / The Wee Free Men / Wintersmith / I Shall Wear Midnight)
You have this thing you call . . . boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song—it went “Twinkle twinkle little star. . . .” What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming! Completely
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Is somethin' wrong?" said Daft Wullie. "Aye!" snapped the kelda. "Rob willnae tak' a drink o' Special Sheep Liniment!" Wullie's little face screwed up in instant grief. "Ach, the Big Man's deid!" he sobbed. "Oh waily waily waily - " Will ye hush yer gob, ye big mudlin!" shouted Rob Anybody, standing up. "I am no' deid! I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man cannae feel the chilly winds o' Fate lashing aroound his nethers wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Black Meg, the senior nanny, who patiently allowed Tiffany to milk her and then, carefully and deliberately, put a hoof in the milk bucket. That’s a goat’s idea of getting to know you. A goat is a worrying thing if you’re used to sheep, because a goat is a sheep with brains.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
There were no judges and no prizes. The Trials weren't like that, as Petulia had said. The point was to show what you could do, to show what you'd become, so that people would go away thinking things like 'That Caramella Bottlethwaite, she's coming along nicely.' It wasn't a competition, honestly. No one won. And if you believed that, you'd believe that the moon is pushed around the sky by a goblin called Wilberforce.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Eiffel Tower" To Robert Delaunay Eiffel Tower Guitar of the sky Your wireless telegraphy Attracts words As a rosebush the bees During the night The Seine no longer flows Telescope or bugle EIFFEL TOWER And it's a hive of words Or an inkwell of honey At the bottom of dawn A spider with barbed-wire legs Was making its web of clouds My little boy To climb the Eiffel Tower You climb on a song Do re mi fa sol la ti do We are up on top A bird sings in the telegraph antennae It's the wind Of Europe The electric wind Over there The hats fly away They have wings but they don't sing Jacqueline Daughter of France What do you see up there The Seine is asleep Under the shadow of its bridges I see the Earth turning And I blow my bugle Toward all the seas On the path Of your perfume All the bees and the words go their way On the four horizons Who has not heard this song I AM THE QUEEN OF THE DAWN OF THE POLES I AM THE COMPASS THE ROSE OF THE WINDS THAT FADES EVERY FALL AND ALL FULL OF SNOW I DIE FROM THE DEATH OF THAT ROSE IN MY HEAD A BIRD SINGS ALL YEAR LONG That's the way the Tower spoke to me one day Eiffel Tower Aviary of the world Sing Sing Chimes of Paris The giant hanging in the midst of the void Is the poster of France The day of Victory You will tell it to the stars
Vicente Huidobro (The Cubist Poets in Paris: An Anthology (French Modernist Library))
Козата е беля работа ако човек е свикнал с овце, защото козата е овца с мозък. ... тя знаеше, че спрямо козите трябва да използваш пъсихология. Ако вземеш да се превъзбудиш и да се развикаш, и да удариш козата (при което да си удариш ръката, защото то е все едно да зашлевиш чувал със закачалки), то те ще са спечелили, и ще ти се надсмиват на кози език, който и без друго се състои почти само от насмешки.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
Oh, no. That’s just a name. Oswald isn’t a man, he’s an ondageist. Have you heard of poltergeists?” “Er . . . invisible spirits that throw things around?” “Good,” said Miss Level. “Well, an ondageist is the opposite. They’re obsessive about tidiness. He’s quite handy around the house, but he’s absolutely dreadful if he’s in the kitchen when I’m cooking. He keeps putting things away. I think it makes him happy. Sorry, I should have warned you, but he normally hides if anyone comes to the cottage. He’s shy.” “And
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
Do you know where a story is going when you start writing, or do you let the story take control and see where it takes you? This answer deserves one sentence or an essay! I’ll try to summarize it like this: writing, for me, is a little like wood carving. You find the lump of tree (the big central theme that gets you started) and you start cutting the shape that you think you want it to be. But you find, if you do it right, that the wood has a grain of its own (characters develop and present new insights, concentrated thinking about the story opens new avenues). If you’re sensible, you work with the grain and, if you come across a knot hole, you incorporate that into the design. This is not the same as “making it up as you go along”; it’s a very careful process of control.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32))
— Глей са, ич нема време да се дърлиме! — сряза го Прост Уили. — Баш сме у зор и бързанье, сфатуеш ли, а немаме друг, освен тебе, дето да го най фърченето! — Ма туй с метлата не е фърчене бе — възрази Хамиш. — Оно е магия. Криле си нема она! Я тая пущина не я отбирам! Голем Йън обаче вече беше метнал един конец на метличинния край на метлата и се закатери нагоре. Другите фийгъли го последваха. — Па и как му ста’е на туй кормуването ма? — не мирясваше Хамиш. — Епа ти пилещарите как ги кормуваш? — поиска да знае Прост Уили. — Ми онуй е фасулска работа. Само га си я изместиш тежестта и… — Епа що да ти речем, че се учиш у крачка — отреди Уили. — Че оно фърченето нема как да е чак толкоз мъчно. Ми оно и патките го могат, а они акъл ич немат.
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
This place, our little cloud forest, even though we missed our papi, it was the most beautiful place you've ever seen. We didn't really know that then, because it was the only place we'd ever seen, except in picture in books and magazines, but now that's I've seen other place, I know. I know how beautiful it was. And we loved it anyway even before we knew. Because the trees had these enormous dark green leaves, as a big as a bed, and they would sway in the wind. And when it rain you could hear the big, fat raindrops splatting onto those giant leaves, and you could only see the sky in bright blue patches if you were walking a long way off to a friend's house or to church or something, when you passed through a clearing and all those leaves would back away and open up and the hot sunshine would beat down all yellow and gold and sticky. And there were waterfalls everywhere with big rock pools where you could take a bath and the water was always warm and it smelled like sunlight. And at night there was the sound of the tree frogs and the music of the rushing water from the falls and all the songs of the night birds, and Mami would make the most delicious chilate, and Abuela would sing to us in the old language, and Soledad and I would gather herbs and dry them and bundle them for Papi to sell in the market when he had a day off, and that's how we passed our days.' Luca can see it. He's there, far away in the misty cloud forest, in a hut with a packed dirt floor and a cool breeze, with Rebeca and Soledad and their mami and abuela, and he can even see their father, far away down the mountain and through the streets of that clogged, enormous city, wearing a long apron and a chef's hat, and his pockets full of dried herbs. Luca can smell the wood of the fire, the cocoa and cinnamon of the chilate, and that's how he knows Rebeca is magical, because she can transport him a thousand miles away into her own mountain homestead just by the sound of her voice.
Jeanine Cummins (American Dirt)