Although the scythe isn't pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasants' revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome.

You can't find a hermit to teach you herming, because of course that rather spoils the whole thing.

...it is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done.

If you really want to upset a witch, do her a favor which she has no means of repaying. The unfulfilled obligation will nag at her like a hangnail.

That's one form of magic, of course." "What, just knowing things?" "Knowing things that other people don't know.

And these are your reasons, my lord?" "Do you think I have others?" said Lord Vetinari. "My motives, as ever, are entirely transparent." Hughnon reflected that 'entirely transparent' meant either that you could see right through them or that you couldn't see them at all.

The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.