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Carly's Reviews > Night Watch

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
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Quotes Carly Liked

Terry Pratchett
“There were plotters, there was no doubt about it. Some had been ordinary people who'd had enough. Some were young people with no money who objected to the fact that the world was run by old people who were rich. Some were in it to get girls. And some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what they called 'the people'. Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People.

People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.
As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up. What would run through the streets soon enough wouldn't be a revolution or a riot. It'd be people who were frightened and panicking. It was what happened when the machinery of city life faltered, the wheels stopped turning and all the little rules broke down. And when that happened, humans were worse than sheep. Sheep just ran; they didn't try to bite the sheep next to them.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.
As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“Truth! Freedom! Justice! And a hard-boiled egg!”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“You'd like Freedom, Truth, and Justice, wouldn't you, Comrade Sergeant?' said Reg encouragingly.
'I'd like a hard-boiled egg,' said Vimes, shaking the match out.
There was some nervous laughter, but Reg looked offended.
'In the circumstances, Sergeant, I think we should set our sights a little higher--'
'Well, yes, we could,' said Vimes, coming down the steps. He glanced at the sheets of papers in front of Reg. The man cared. He really did. And he was serious. He really was. 'But...well, Reg, tomorrow the sun will come up again, and I'm pretty sure that whatever happens we won't have found Freedom, and there won't be a whole lot of Justice, and I'm damn sure we won't have found Truth. But it's just possible that I might get a hard-boiled egg.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“One of the hardest lessons in young Sam's life had been finding out that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Terry Pratchett
“Two types of people laugh at the law: those that break it and those that make it.”
Terry Pratchett, Night Watch
tags: law


Reading Progress

December 12, 2011 – Shelved
February 14, 2012 – Shelved as: fantasy
February 15, 2012 – Shelved as: favorites
May 19, 2012 – Shelved as: urban-fantasy
May 19, 2012 – Shelved as: worldbuilding
May 19, 2012 – Shelved as: detective-hb-noir
May 19, 2012 – Shelved as: police-procedural
May 4, 2013 – Shelved as: cover-love
June 16, 2013 – Shelved as: muf
June 10, 2015 – Started Reading
June 10, 2015 –
0.0% "Last time I read this, I was about a decade younger. I really hope it stands the test of time..."
June 10, 2015 –
13.0% ""Yes, thought Vimes. That’s the way it was. Privilege, which just means “private law.� Two types of people laugh at the law; those that break it and those that make it.""
June 11, 2015 –
23.0% ""The thing about rooting out plots and spies everywhere is that, even if there are no real plots to begin with, there are plots and spies galore very soon.""
June 11, 2015 –
29.0% "Yeah, all right, but everyone knows they torture people,� mumbled Sam.
“Do they?� said Vimes. “Then why doesn’t anyone do anything about it?�
“� Cos they torture people.�
Ah, at least I was getting a grasp of basic social dynamics, thought Vimes"
June 11, 2015 –
33.0% "Swing, though, started in the wrong place. He »å¾±»å²Ô’t look around, and watch, and learn, and then say, “This is how people are, how do we deal with it?â€� No, he sat and thought : “This is how people ought to be, how do we change them?""
June 12, 2015 –
49.0% ""No! Please! I’ll tell you whatever you want to know!� the man yelled.
“Really?� said Vimes. “What’s the orbital velocity of the moon?""
June 12, 2015 –
51.0% ""That’s how it goes. Meetings in rooms. A little diplomacy, a little give and take, a promise here, an understanding there. That’s how real revolutions happen. All that stuff in the streets is just froth.""
June 12, 2015 –
55.0% ""I know that you are a man after my own heart.�
Vimes considered the anatomical choices. “That would be broadly correct, sir,� he said, “although I would not aspire that high.""
June 13, 2015 –
56.0% ""Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.""
June 13, 2015 –
58.0% "'The Rust family had produced great soldiers, by the undemanding standards of “Deduct Your Own Casualties From Those Of The Enemy, And If The Answer Is A Positive Sum, It Was A Glorious Victory� school of applied warfare.'"
June 13, 2015 –
60.0% "'One of the hardest lessons of young Sam’s life had been finding out that the people in charge weren’t in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.'"
June 13, 2015 –
60.0% "'Vimes had spent his life on the streets and had met decent men, and fools...but he’d never met The People. People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness.'"
June 13, 2015 –
60.0% "'And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they »å¾±»å²Ô’t measure up.'"
June 13, 2015 –
61.0% "There was more whispering . He distinctly heard “—that’s the sergeant from last night—� and some sort of sotto voce argument. Then a voice shouted, “Death to the Fascist Oppressors!� This time the argument was more frantic. He heard someone say, “Oh, all right,� and then, “Death to the Fascist Oppressors, Present Company Excepted! There, is everyone happy now?""
June 13, 2015 –
63.0% ""You took an oath to uphold the law and defend the citizens without fear or favor,� said Vimes. “And to protect the innocent. That’s all they put in. Maybe they thought those were the important things. Nothing in there about orders, even from me. You’re an officer of the law, not a soldier of the government.""
June 13, 2015 –
71.0% ""You’d like Freedom, Truth, and Justice, wouldn’t you, Comrade Sergeant?� said Reg encouragingly. “I’d like a hard-boiled egg,� said Vimes. [...] "Tomorrow the sun will come up again, and I’m pretty sure that whatever happens we won’t have found Freedom, and there won’t be a whole lot of Justice, and I’m damn sure we won’t have found Truth. But it’s just possible that I might get a hard-boiled egg.""
June 16, 2015 –
80.0% ""People are content to wait a long time for salvation, but prefer dinner to turn up inside an hour.""
June 16, 2015 –
85.0% ""And it was the morning of a new day, which looked, seen from below, quite like the old ones.""
June 17, 2015 –
95.0% "It had been a mean, shameful little fight that ended them, a flyspecked footnote of history, but they hadn’t been mean or shameful men. They hadn’t run, and they could have run with honor. They’d stayed, and he wondered if the path had seemed as clear to them then as it did to him now. They’d stayed not because they wanted to be heroes, but because they chose to think of it as their job, and it was in front of them."
June 17, 2015 –
97.0% ""They did the job they »å¾±»å²Ô’t have to do, and they died doing it, and you can’t give them anything. Do you understand? They fought for those who’d been abandoned, they fought for one another, and they were betrayed. Men like them always are. What good would a statue be? It’d just inspire new fools to believe they’re going to be heroes. They wouldn’t want that. Just let them be. Forever.""
June 17, 2015 – Finished Reading

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