Any sensible ruler would have killed off Leonard, and Lord Vetinari was extremely sensible and often wondered why he had not done so. He'd decided that it was because, imprisoned in the priceless, inquiring amber of Leonard's massive mind, underneath that bright investigative genius was a kind of willful innocence that might in lesser men be called stupidity. It was the seat and soul of that force which, down the millennia, had caused mankind to stick its fingers in the electric light socket of the Universe and play with the switch to see what happened - and then be very surprised when it did.

Million-to-one chances...crop up nine times out of ten.

Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed any more.

...inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.

Wisdom is one of the few things that looks bigger the further away it is.

One person is nothing. Two people are a nation.

No one knew where you were before you were born, but when you were born, it wasn't long before you found you'd arrived with your return ticket already punched.