The universe, they said, depended for its operation on the balance of four forces which they identified as charm, persuasion, uncertainty and bloody-mindedness.

They were also slightly less intelligent than he was. This is a quality you should always pray for in your would-be murderer.

On the Disc, the Gods aren't so much worshipped, as they are blamed.

The characters are the plot. What they do and say and the things that happen to them are, in a sense, what the plot is. You can't take character and plot apart from each other, really.

Everywhere's been where it is ever since it was first put there. It's called geography.

The Captain of the Watch says if you're still in the City by sunrise he will personally have you buried alive.

Tiffany knew what the problem was immediately. She'd seen it before, at birthday parties. Her brother was suffering from tragic sweet deprivation. Yes, he was surrounded by sweets. But the moment he took any sweet at all, said his sugar-addled brain, that meant he was not taking all the rest. And there were so many sweets he'd never be able to eat them all. It was too much to cope with. The only solution was to burst into tears.