The Wit & the Wisdom of Discworld

Trying to select what books to bring with me on vacation was kind of difficult. Flying with Air Asia meant that I had to deal with a weight limit for my luggage, and it would cost me a bundle if I couldn't respect it. Which meant that I could only bring paperbacks. The novels needed to be entertaining, quick-paced, and/or lighter read.

The Wit & the Wisdom of Discworld appeared to be exactly what the doctor ordered. Compiled by Stephen Briggs, this work contains countless quotes from Terry Pratchett's i9ncredible body of work.

Here's the blurb:

"When the least they could do to you was everything, then the most they could do to you suddenly held no terror." - From, "Small Gods".

"A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores." - From, "The Fifth Elephant".

The perfect book for die-hard Pratchett fans and newcomers alike, a collection of the wittiest, pithiest and wisest quotations from the Discworld universe, organised into categories including the principal Discworld characters (Granny Weatherwax, Lord Vetinari), places (Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, the City Watch) or even the occasional concept (magic).

Briggs compiled quips and quotes from basically every single Discworld installment. In a way, it's a greatest hits of all the Rincewind, Cohen, Lord Vetinari, Death, Granny Weatherwax and various other memorable characters' quotes.

Here are a few quotes:

That's what so stupid about the whole magic thing. . . You spend twenty years
learning the spell that makes nude virgins appear in your bedroom, and then
you're so poisoned by quicksilver fumes and half-blind from reading old
grimoires that you can't remember what happens next.

If women were as good as men they'd be a lot better!

Then there was the puzzle of why the sun came out during the day, instead of at night when the light would come in useful.

"It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever," Keeble said. "Have you thought of going into teaching?"

It was the usual Ankh-Morpork mob in times of crisis; half of them were here to
complain, a quarter of them were here to watch the other half, and the remainder
were here to rob, importune or sell hot-dogs to the rest.

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

"Don't you talk to me about progress. Progress just means bad things happening faster."

The Patrician was a pragmatist. He never tried to fix things that worked. Things
that didn't, however, got broken.

The Ankh-Morpork view of crime and punishment was that the penalty for the first offense should prevent the possibility of a second offense.

Those who were inclined to casual cruelty say that inside a fat girl is a thin girl and a lot of chocolate.

The dungeons of the Palace held a number of felons imprisoned "at his
lordship's pleasure," and since Lord Vetinari was seldom very pleased they were
generally in for the long haul.

"Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind, indistinctly. "Mind you, my first name is Bad."

Any seasoned traveler soon learns to avoid anything wished on them as a "regional specialty," because all the term means is that the dish is so unpleasant to people living everywhere else will bite off their own legs rather than eat it. But hosts will
still press it upon distant guests anyway: "Go on, have the dog's head stuffed with macerated cabbage and pork noses -- it's a regional specialty."

Privilege just means "private law." Two types of people laugh at the law: those that break it and those that make it.

Considering that you are going through the wittiest and funniest quotes from the entire Discworld saga, The Wit & the Wisdom of Discworld is an extremely fun read. Recommended for long-time fans and newbies alike.

The final verdict: 7.5/10

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