Gods prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight To Oblivion; a key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs.

And what are you doing on it, I would like to know? Running away from home, yesno? If you were a boy I'd say are you going to seek your fortune?" "Can't girls seek their fortune?" "I think they're supposed to seek a boy with a fortune.

Theres no stink more sorrorful than the stink of wet, burnt paper. It means: the end.

The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.

Particles of raw inspiration sleet through the universe all the time. Every once in a while one of them hits a receptive mind, which then invents DNA or the flute sonata form or a way of making light bulbs wear out in half the time. But most of them miss. Most people go through their lives without being hit by even one.

Science fiction is fantasy with bolts painted on outside.

When a man is tired of Ankh-Morpork, he is tired of ankle-deep slurry.