Hell, everybody's doing it, so why not me.
The rules: "Go here and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe."
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
Shaw was a complete cynic, and hence admirable, apart from his love of Hitler.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
I include this because I tend to say everything. Oops. Sorry. You already knew that, didn't you?
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Notebook, 1935
Pretty well everything Twain said or wrote is true, useful, and funny. I can't think of another human being who said so much I agree with. And he visited Australia, too!
Unless, of course, it's Terry Pratchett. Small Gods is, despite itself, a great work of literature. It's OK, Terry, I promise not to tell anyone...
And no matter how many times I refreshed the quote site, it didn't come up with my absolute favourite:
It is not enough to succeed. Friends must be seen to have failed.
Truman Capote
Comments
The quotation attributed to Terry Pratchett has been around for quite a while. I recall seeing it quoted by SF writer John Brunner, back in the 1960s. Not sure where, but may have been in Stand on Zanzibar.
Posted by: Typhis | August 19, 2006 5:34 PM
I've always had a soft spot for Small Gods myself; along with Lords and Ladies I tend to think that it's one of the best things Pratchett's written. And Good Omens, of course.
Posted by: Iorwerth Thomas | August 19, 2006 8:46 PM
Stand on Zanzibar was one of my favourite Brunners. But it is not entirely impossible that Terry either (i) independently invented it, or (ii) is using one of Brunner's sayings. Terry is about as widely connected to broader culture as it is possible for a writer to be and still be able to write his own stuff.
Posted by: John Wilkins | August 19, 2006 9:54 PM
Indeed, Terry is a fount of wisdom. The irony is that he has the power of a mythmaker in his own right. He tries to refrain... but it keeps leaking through anyway. ;-) I'd love to see what he could make of Salmon of Doubt. I only read Small Gods recently, but the thing is, most of the Discworld material is pretty brilliant!
I especially like The Last Hero. In this gloriously illustrated tale, a bunch of old friends fly to the Hub by way of the Moon to stop Cohen the Barbarian from destroying the world.... The pics are gloriously detailed and often hilariously funny. (There's one of the Librarian that I'd really love to see as a poster!)
Posted by: David Harmon | August 20, 2006 6:29 PM