Monstrous Regiment Quotes

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

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The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Do you think it's possible for an entire nation to be insane?
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The enemy isn't men, or women, it's bloody stupid people and no one has the right to be stupid.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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There was this about vampires : they could never look scruffy. Instead, they were... what was the word... deshabille. It meant untidy, but with bags and bags of style.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The purpose of this lectchoor is to let you know where we are. We are in the deep cack. It couldn't be worse if it was raining arseholes. Any questions?
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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This was not a fairy-tale castle and there was no such thing as a fairy-tale ending, but sometimes you could threaten to kick the handsome prince in the ham-and-eggs.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Who shall I shoot? You choose. Now, listen very carefully: where's your coffee? You've got coffee, haven't you? C'mon, everyone's got coffee! Spill the beans!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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You take a bunch of people who don't seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It's lies. It's all lies. Some of them are just prettier than others, that's all. People see what they think is there.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Good or bad, do it as you. Too many lies and there's no truth to go back to.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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[The pamphlet] was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It's not lying when you do it to officers!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The four lesser apocalyptical horsemen of Panic, Bewilderment, Ignorance, and Shouting took control of the room,
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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How can you protect yourself by carrying a sword if you don’t know how to use it?’ Not me, sir. Other people. They see the sword and don’t attack me,’ said Maladict patiently. Yes, but if they did, lad, you wouldn’t be any good with it,’ said the sergeant. No, sir. I’d probably settle for just ripping their heads off, sir. That’s what I mean by protection, sir. Theirs, not mine. And I’d get hell from the League if I did that, sir.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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I don't want unnecessary violence, sergeant," said Blouse. "Right you are, sir!" said the sergeant. "Carborundum! First man comes through that door runnin', I want him nailed to the wall!" He caught the lieutenant's eye, and added: "But not too hard!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Anyway, why would you trust anything written down? She certainly didn't trust "Mothers of Borogravia!" and that was from the government. And if you couldn't trust the government, who could you trust? Very nearly everyone, come to think of it...
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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I want to eat chocolates in a great big room where the world is a different place.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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I am a bundle of suppressed instincts held together with spit and coffee.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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There have been better attempts at marching, and they have been made by penguins.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The enemy wasn't men, or women, or the old, or even the dead. It was just bleedin' stupid people, who came in all varieties. And no one had the right to be stupid.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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That's the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys! They're all guys!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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There was a bird whistle as Polly neared the hiding place. She identified this one as the sound of the Very Bad Bird Impersonator…
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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I crawled into my books and pulled the pages up over my head. (A Monstrous Regiment of Women)
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Laurie R. King
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When they're laughing at you, their guard is down. When their guard is down, you can kick them in the fracas.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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And if you couldn't trust the government, who could you trust? Very nearly everyone, come to think of it...
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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And the new day was a great big fish
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Polly felt questing eyes boring into her. She was embarrassed, of course. But not for the obvious reason. It was for the other one, the little lesson that life sometimes rams home with a stick: you are not the only one watching the world. Other people are people; while you watch them they watch you, and they think about you while you think about them. The world isn’t just about you.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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People build something that works. Then circumstances change, and they have to tinker with it to make it continue to work, and they are so busy tinkering that they cannot see that a much better idea would be to build a whole new system to deal with the new circumstances. But to an outsider, the idea is obvious.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Stopping a battle is much harder than starting it. Starting it only requires you to shout β€˜Attack!’ but when you want to stop it, everyone is busy.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Perhaps that's why men did it. You didn't do it to save duchesses, or countries. You killed the enemy to stop him killing your mates, that they in turn might save you ...
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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A woman always has half an onion left over, no matter what the size of the onion, the dish or the woman
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It's all trickery. They keep you down and when they piss off some other country, you have to fight for them! It's only your country when they want you to get killed!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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And a woman by herself is missing a man, while a man by himself is his own master. Trousers. That's the secret. Trousers and a pair of socks. I never dreamed it was like this. Put on trousers and the world changes. We walk different. We act different. I see these girls and I think: Idiot's Get yourself some trousers!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Ankh-Morpork is a godless city--' 'I thought it had more than three hundred places of worship?' said Maladict. Strappi stared at him in rage that was incoherent until he managed to touch bottom again. 'Ankh-Morpork is a godawful city', he recovered.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Happier than a terrier in a barrel full of rats
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It’s hard to be an ornithologist and walk through a wood when all around you the world is shouting: β€˜Bugger off, this is my bush! Aargh, the nest thief! Have sex with me, I can make my chest big and red!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Bein’ a soldier is not hard. If it was, soldiers would not be able to do it.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Well, the lion is a big ol’ coward, mostly. If you want trouble, you want to tangle with the lioness. They’re killers, and they hunt together. It’s the same everywhere. If you want big grief, look to the ladies.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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His rabbitty features looked unusually determined, as if a hamster had spotted a gap in its treadmill.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Sooner or later all things are numbers, yes?
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Caring for small things had to start with caring for big things, and maybe the world wasn't big enough.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The most recent books have shown Terry in a new modeβ€”books like Night Watch and Monstrous Regiment are darker, deeper, more outraged at what people can do to people, while prouder of what people can do for each other.
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Neil Gaiman (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)
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What does a man stand up to do, a woman sit down to do, and a dog lift its leg to do?” And then, when everyone was too embarrassed to answer, she’d triumphantly shriek β€œShake hands!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Bein’ a soldier is not hard! If it was, soldiers would not be able to do it! There is only three things you need to remember, which are, viz: one obey orders two give it to the enemy good and hard three don’t die.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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And now I demand that you do what the ignorant might feel is the easier thing. You must refrain from dying in battle. Revenge is not redress. Revenge is a wheel, and it turns backwards. The dead are not your masters.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature; contumely to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice.
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John Knox (The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women)
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She is standing just behind you. Just behind your right shoulder." In the silence of the woods, Polly turned. "I can't see her," she said. "I am happy for you," said Wazzer, handing her the empty mug. "But I didn't see anything," said Polly. "No," said Wazzer. "But you turned around...
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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If they look as though they're worried, we'll move in.' 'And do what exactly?' said Polly. 'Threaten to shoot them,' said Maladict firmly. 'And if they don't believe us?' 'Then we'll threaten to shoot them in a much louder voice,' said Maladict. 'Happy? And I hope to hell they've got some coffee!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It's a monocle," said the captain. "It helps me see you, for which I am eternally grateful. I always say that if I had two I'd make a spectacle of myself.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Heinrich had a reputation locally for cunning, but Ankh-Morpork had overtaken cunning a thousand years ago, had sped past devious, had left artful far behind, and had now, by a roundabout route, arrived at straightforward.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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He had a sword. There was that about him: when this man held a sword, it was clearly being held, and held by him. The eye was drawn to it. Even Jade would have been impressed.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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It was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Too many lies and there's no truth to go back to.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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That’s the trouble about the good guys and the bad guys! They’re all guys!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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The year was past the edge, heading away from the dark... Of course, dark would come again, but that was in the nature of the world. Many things were beginning.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment)
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Interpreting the Bible without training is a bit like finding a specific address in a foreign city with neither map nor knowledge of the language. You might stumble upon the right answer, but in the meantime you've put yourself at the mercy of every ignoramus in town, with no way of telling the savant from the fool.
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #2))
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I could never, I knew then, lose myself "in love." Margery had accused me of coldness, and she was right, but she was also wrong: For me, for always, the paramount organ of passion was the mind. Unnatural, unbalanced, perhaps, but it was true: Without intellect, there could be no love.
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #2))
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Then it is about sex,” said Polly flatly. β€œIt’s a folk song, it starts with β€˜β€™twas,’ it takes place in May, QED, it’s about sex. Is a milkmaid involved? I bet she is.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty. β€”RUDYARD KIPLING (1865–1936)
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2))
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Now that she had got over the surprise, there was something offensive about this lack of reaction. It was like someone opening a door just before your battering ram hit it; suddenly you were running through the building and not certain how to stop.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Margery," I blurted out in a passion of frustration. "I don't know what to make of you!" Nor I you, Mary. Frankly, I cannot begin to comprehend the motives of a person who dedicates a large portion of her life to the contemplation of a God in whom she only marginally believes." I felt stunned, as if she had struck me in the diaphragm. She looked down at me, trying to measure the effect of her words. Mary, you believe in the power that the idea of God has on the human mind. You believe in the way human beings talk about the unknowable, reach for the unattainable, pattern their imperfect lives and offer their paltry best up to the beingless being that created the universe and powers its continuation. What you balk as it believing the evidence of your eyes, that God can reach out and touch a single human life in a concrete way." She smiled a sad, sad smile. "You mustn't be so cold, Mary. If you are, all you will see is a cold God, cold friends, cold love. God is not cold-never cold. God sears with heat, not ice, the heat of a thousand suns, heat that inflames but does not consume. You need warmth, Mary-you, Mary, need it. You fear it, you flirt with it, you imagine that you can stand in its rays and retain your cold intellectual attitude towards it. You imagine that you can love with your brain. Mary, oh my dear Mary, you sit in the hall and listen to me like some wild beast staring at a campfire, unable to leave, fearful of losing your freedom if you come any closer. It won't consume you; I won't capture you. Love does not do either. It only brings life. Please, Mary, don't let yourself be tied up by the bonds of cold academia." Her words, the power of her conviction, broke over me like a great wave, inundating me, robbing me of breath, and, as they receded in the room, they pulled hard at me to folllow. I struggled to keep my footing against the wash of Margery's vision, and only when it began to lose its strength, dissipated against the silence in the room, was I seized by a sudden terror at the nearness of my escape.
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #2))
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that where a woman reigneth and papistes beare authoritie, that there must nedes Satan be president of the counsel, p.
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John Knox (The First Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous regiment of Women)
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The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to those who think they’ve found it.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Er…what's that glass for, sir?' β€˜It’s a monocle,’ said the captain. β€˜It helps me see you, for which I am eternally grateful. I always say that if I had two I’d make a spectacle of myself.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Oddly enough, the very considerations that had made marriage impossible for him were mirrored in my own being: a rabidly independent nature, an impatience with lesser minds, total unconventionality, and the horror of being saddled with someone who would need cosseting and protectionβ€”the
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2))
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Yes, a good swipe at head height would kill . . . some mother's son, some sister's brother, some lad who'd followed the drum for a shilling and his first new suit. If only he'd been trained, if only she'd had a few weeks stabbing straw men until she could believe that all men were made of straw.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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But I see you're not standing in a bleedin' shadow, Perks, nor have you done anything to change your bleedin' shape, you're silhouetted against the bleedin' light and your sabre's shining like a diamond in a chimney-sweep's bleedin' ear'ole! Explain!" "It's because of the one C, sarge!" said Polly, still staring straight ahead. "And that is?" "Colour, sarge! I'm wearing bleedin' red and white in a bleedin' grey forest, sarge!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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And then there was the young-male walk to master. At least women swung only their hips. Young men swung everything, from the shoulders down. You have to try to occupy a lot of space, she thought. It makes you look bigger, like a tomcat fluffing his tail. She’d seen it a lot in the inn. The boys tried to walk big in self-defense against all those other big boys out there. I’m bad, I’m fierce, I’m cool, I’d like a pint of shandy and me mam wants me home by nine… Let
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Its the same everywhere. If you want big grief, look to the ladies.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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The new day is a great big fish!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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The
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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It’s not lying when you do it to officers! It’s presentin’ them with the world the way they think it ought to be!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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What's a political?" "Like a spy, but on your own side," said Maladict
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Polly had been washing up when she'd heard the men talking late one night, and it's a poor woman who can't eavesdrop while making a noise at the same time.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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They turned at the sound of urgent praying. Wazzer had fallen to her knees, hands clasped together. The rest of the squad edged away slowly. Piety is a wonderful thing.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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It was women’s work, and therefore monotonous, backbreaking, and social.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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And the new day was a great big fish.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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That was another thing you learned in the milit’ry: look busy. Look busy and no one worried too much about what you were busy at.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld #31))
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El enemigo se querΓ­a librar de nosotras con discreciΓ³n, y ahora el general quiere hacer lo mismo. Ese es el problema de los hombres buenos y los hombres malos. Β‘Son todos hombres!
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment)
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The enemy wasn’t men, or women, or the old, or even the dead. It was just bleedin’ stupid people, who came in all varieties. And no one had the right to be stupid.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld #31))
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The pen might not be mightier than the sword, but maybe the printing press was heavier that the siege weapon.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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Pockets, she thought. We’ve got to hang on to pockets.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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He felt that once the dark of the forest closed over them, they would never see clear sunlight again. Yet it was the kind of fear that excited him, made him want to dare its shadows.
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Storm Constantine (The Monstrous Regiment)
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Oh, you mean they're just people getting away early for the holidays to avoid the Rush?" said Maladict. "Sorry, I got confused. It must be that woman carrying a whole haystack we just passed.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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you are not the only one watching the world, other people are also people, while you watch them they watch you, and they think about you while you think about them. The world isn’t just about you.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld #31))
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There was always a war. Usually they were border disputes, the national equivalent of complaining that the neighbor was letting their hedge grow too long. Sometimes they were bigger. Borogravia was a peace-loving country in the midst of treacherous, devious, warlike enemies. They had to be treacherous, devious, and warlike, otherwise we wouldn't be fighting them, eh? There was always a war.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Think young male, that was the thing. Fart loudly and with self-satisfaction at a job well done, walk like a puppet that’d had a couple of random strings cut, never hug anyone, and, if you meet a friend, punch them.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld #31))
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(How could he have known? How could he know my body better than I did myself? How could he foresee that a thumbnail run up my spine wouldβ€”) β€œBy God,” he murmured throatily into my hair. β€œI’ve wanted to do that since the moment I laid eyes upon you.
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #2))
β€œ
And in a nasty war, where's the best place to be? Apart from on the moon, o' course? No one?" Slowly, Jade raised a hand. "Go on, then," said the sergeant. "In the army, sarge," said the troll. "'cos..." She began to count on her fingers. "One, you got weapons an' armour an' dat. Two, you are surrounded by other armed men. Er... Many, youse gettin' paid and gettin' better grub than the people in Civilian Street. Er... Lots, if'n you gives up, you getting taken pris'ner and dere's rules about that like Not Kicking Pris'ners Inna Head and stuff, 'cos if you kick their pris'ners inna head they'll kick your pris'ners inna head so dat's, like, you're kickin' your own head, but dere's no rule say you can't kick enemy civilians inna head. There's other stuff too, but I ran outa numbers.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
β€œ
These last weeks, since Christmas, have been odd ones. I have begun to doubt that I knew you as well as I thought. I have even wondered if you wished to keep some part of yourself hidden from me in order to preserve your privacy and your autonomy. I will understand if you refuse to give me an answer tonight, and although I freely admit I will be hurt by such a refusal, you must not allow my feelings to influence your answer." I looked up into his face. "The question I have for you, then is this: How are the fairies in your garden?" By the yellow streetlights, I saw the trepidation that had been building up in face give way to a flash of relief, then to the familiar signs of outrage: the bulging eyes, the purpling skin, the thin lips. He cleared his throat. "I am not a man much given to violence," he began, calmly enough, "but I declare that if that man Doyle came before me today, I should be hard-pressed to avoid trouncing him." The image was a pleasing one, two gentlemen on the far side of middle age, one built like a bulldog and the other like a bulldong, engaging in fisticuffs. "It is difficult enough to surmount Watson's apparently endless blather in order to have my voice heard as a scientist, but now, when people hear my name, all they will think of is that disgusting dreamy-eyed little girl and her preposterous paper cutouts. I knew the man was limited, but I did not even suspect that he was insane!" "Oh, well, Holmes," I drawled into his climbing voice. "Look on the bright side. You've complained for years how tedious it is to have everyone with a stray puppy or a stolen pencil box push through your hedges and tread on the flowers; now the British Public will assume that Sherlock Homes is as much a fairy tale as those photographs and will stop plaguing you. I'd say the man's done you a great service." I smiled brightly. For a long minute, it was uncertain whether he was going to strike me dead for my impertinence or drop dead himself of apoplexy, but then, as I had hoped, he threw back his head and laughed long and hard.
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Laurie R. King (A Monstrous Regiment of Women (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #2))
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Besides, she thought as she watched Wazzer drink, you only thought the world would be better if it was run by women if you didn’t actually know many women. Or old women, at least. Take the whole thing about the dimity scarves. Women had to cover their hair on Fridays, but there was nothing about this in the Book, which was pretty darβ€”pretty damn rigorous about most things. It was just a custom. It was done because it had always been done. And if you forgot, or didn’t want to, the old women got you. They had eyes like hawks. They could practically see through walls. And the men took notice, because no man wanted to cross the crones in case they started watching him, so half-hearted punishment would be dealt out. Whenever there was an execution, and especially when there was a whipping, you always found the grannies in the front row, sucking on peppermints.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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There had been half a dozen men in that party of returning heroes. They must have been trekking with gray-faced patience for days, making their way back to little villages in the mountains. Polly counted nine arms and ten legs between them, and ten eyes. But it was the apparently whole who were worse, in a way. They kept their stinking coats buttoned tight, in lieu of bandages over whatever unspeakable mess lay beneath, and they had the smell of death about them. The inn’s regulars made space for them, and talked quietly, like people in a sacred place. Her father, not usually a man given to sentiment, quietly put a generous tot of brandy into each mug of ale, and refused all payment. Then it turned out that they were carrying letters from soldiers still fighting, and one of them had brought the letter from Paul. He pushed it across the table to Polly as she served them stew, and then, with very little fuss, he died.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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On a distant hilltop, twinkling like an early evening star, a white light was flashing. Blouse lowered his telescope. β€˜They're repeating "CQ",’ he said. β€˜And I believe those longer pauses are when they're aiming their tube in different directions. They're looking for their spies. "Seek You", see? Private Igor?’ β€˜Thur?’ β€˜You know how that tube works, don't you?’ β€˜Oh, yeth, thur. You jutht light a flare in the box, and then it'th just point and click.’ β€˜You're not going to answer it, are you, sir?’ said Jackrum, horrified. β€˜I am indeed, sergeant,’ said Blouse briskly. β€˜Private Carborundum, please assemble the tube. Manickle, please bring the lantern. I shall need to read the code book.’ β€˜But that'll give away our position!’ said Jackrum. β€˜No, sergeant, because although this term may be unfamiliar to you I intend to what we call "lie",’ said Blouse. β€˜Igor, I'm sure you have some scissors, although I'd rather you didn't attempt to repeat the word.’ β€˜I have thome of the appliantheth you mention, thur,’ said Igorina stiffly.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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hour. β€œOnce was quiteβ€”I mean, I’ve seen…look, I’m completely
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))
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We want you, against this monstrous regiment of women.
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Pauline Clarke (The Return of the Twelves)
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.. evidence from around the world shows that political gender quotas don’t lead to the monstrous regiment of incompetent women. In fact, in line with the LSE study on workplace quotas, studies on political quotas have found that if anything, they β€˜increase the competence of the political class in general’. This being the case, gender quotas are nothing more than a corrective to a hidden male bias, and it is the current system that is anti-democratic.
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Caroline Criado PΓ©rez (Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men)
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I am surrounded by wonderful women, thought Joe. Whoever said that stuff about a monstrous regiment got it wrong. Must have meant wondrous!
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Reginald Hill (The Roar Of The Butterflies (Joe Sixsmith, #5))
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Maladict had hallucinations, but Wazzer had a certainty you could bend steel around. It was the opposite of a hallucination, somehow. It was as if she could see what was real and you couldn't.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31; Industrial Revolution, #3))
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Ankh-Morpork way of doing things. Heinrich had a reputation locally for cunning, but Ankh-Morpork had overtaken cunning a thousand years ago, had sped past devious, had left artful far behind, and had now, by a roundabout route, arrived at straightforward.
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Terry Pratchett (Monstrous Regiment (Discworld, #31))