People who used magic without knowing what they were doing usually came to a sticky end. All over the entire room, sometimes.

What're quantum mechanics?" "I don't know. People who repair quantums, I suppose.

Go anywhere you wish, talk to everyone. Ask any questions; you will be given answers. When you want to learn, you will be taught. Use the library. Open any book.

Man just went past with a cat on his head.

Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease.

In the Ramtops village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away - until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone's life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.

If my father could have sat up in bed and said goodbye, I'd have pressed the button. I wouldn't have been able to see for crying, but I would have considered that a duty.