Night Watch Quotes

“Who knew what evil lurked in the hearts of men? A copper, that's who. (...)You saw how close men lived to the beast. You realized that people like Carcer were not mad. They were incredibily sane. They were simply men without a shield. They'd looked at the world and realized that all the rules didn't have to apply to them, not if they didn't want them to. They weren't fooled by all the little stories. They shook hands with the beast.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“Raising the flag and singing the anthem are, while somewhat suspicious, not in themselves acts of treason.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“Well done,' said a voice somewhere behind him. 'Consciousness to sarcasm in five seconds!”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“It wasn’t a city, it was a process, a weight on the world that distorted the land for hundreds of miles around. People who’d never see it in their whole life nevertheless spent that life working for it. Thousands and thousands of green acres were part of it, forests were part of it. It drew in and consumed…
…and gave back the dung from its pens, and the soot from its chimneys, and steel, and saucepans, and all the tools by which its food was made. And also clothes, and fashions, and ideas, and interesting vices, songs, and knowledge, and something which, if looked at in the right light, was called civilization. That was what civilization meant. It meant the city.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“...with the grin of one who mistakenly thinks he's a wit when he's only half a one.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“Vimes was hazy on religion. He attended Watch funerals and went to such religious events as the proper fulfilling of the office of Commander entailed, but as for the rest . . . well, you saw things sometimes that made it impossible to believe not only in gods, but also in common humanity and your own eyes.”
― Terry Pratchett

“What we're going to do is keep the peace. That's our job. We're not going to be heroes, we're just going to be ... normal.”
― Terry Pratchett

“t wasn’t a city, it was a process, a weight on the world that distorted the land for hundreds of miles around. People who’d never see it in their whole lives nevertheless spent their life working for it. Thousands and thousands of green acres were part of it, forests were part of it. It drew in and consumed…
…and gave back the dung from its pens and the soot from its chimneys, and steel, and saucepans, and all the tools by which its food was made. And also its clothes, and fashions and ideas and interesting vices, songs and knowledge and something which if looked at in the right light, was called civilization. That’s what civilization meant. It meant the city.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“It wasn't easy, living in the past. You couldn't whack someone for what they were going to do, or what the world was going to find out later. You couldn't warn people, either. You didn't know what could change the
future, but if he understood things right, history tended to spring back into shape.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“I'm not a criminal madman,' said Vimes. (...)
'Never mind, you'll soon fit in,' said Lawn.”
― Terry Pratchett

“Like many people of limited intellectual scope, Snouty did take what he could do very seriously.”
― Terry Pratchett

“It wasn't easy, living in the past. You couldn't whack someone for what they were going to do, or what the world was going to find out later. You couldn't warn people, either. You didn't know what could change the future, but if he understood things right, history tended to spring back into shape.”
― Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

“The Night Watchman by Stewart Stafford

Does the night watchman watch the night or does the night watch him?
Is there anything in the darkness or is his eyesight growing dim?
Does a beast growl in the shadows or is his stomach requesting food?
Is his pay adequate compensation or is his boss just being rude?
As he prays for the sunrise, does anyone hear his prayers?
When he clocks out for breakfast, is anyone standing there?
Does he creep home to his bed to count the hours down?
Until he sits staring at the darkness once more with a quizzical and resigned frown?

© Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“...Yoksa bütün bunlar sadece bir anlık baygınlıktır da tepenize dikilen piçin teki şimdi bir kazmanın küt ucu ile asıl işine mi girişecektir? Bilinç. bilmek ister, üzüm getirilecek midir?

Bu noktada dışarıdan gelen bir uyarı faydalı olur. En popüler olanı, "Her şey yoluna girecek"tir, ama "Plakasını aldınız mı?" kesinlikle kötü bir işarettir; ama ikisi de, "Siz ikiniz ellerini arkasından tutun"dan daha iyidir.”
― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!