I don't want unnecessary violence, sergeant,' said Blouse.'Right you are, sir!' said the sergeant. 'Carborundum! First man comes through that door runnin', I want him nailed to the wall!' He caught the lieutenant's eye, and added: 'But not too hard!

I should have learned this, she thought. I wanted to learn fire, and pain, but I should have learned people.

Time travel was only a kind of magic, after all. That's why it always went wrong.

No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...

Wizards don’t believe in gods. They didn’t deny their existence, of course. They just didn’t believe. It was nothing personal; they weren’t actually rude about it. Gods were a visible part of narrativium that made things work, that gave the world its purpose. It was just that they were best avoided close up.

Watching a dog try to chew a large piece of toffee is a pastime fit for gods. Mr. Fusspot's mixed ancestry had given him a dexterity of jaw that was truly awesome. He somersaulted happily around the floor, making faces like a rubber gargoyle in a washing machine.