Literature related posters

[Smaug's voice]

Hey all.

I've decided to get some posters printed for my walls, posters with really wonderful, evocative quotes from literature.
For instance, the opening lines of 'A tale of two cities' are still one of the best lines I've ever read. But I don't see how they can be applicable to my life. Today.

So anyway, I'd like everyone's input as to what all passages and lines from literature (including Tolkien) they find really evocative and resonant.

[Jude]

“Goodness is about what you do. Not who you pray to.”

Terry Pratchett, Snuff

It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life

Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

"Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes."

Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, "Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

Chain-mail isn't much defence against an arrow. It certainly isn't when the arrow is being aimed between your eyes.

Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Too many people, when listing all the perils to be found in the search for lost treasure or ancient wisdom, had forgotten to put at the top of the list 'the man who arrived just before you'.

Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero

A good plan isn't one where someone wins, it's where nobody thinks they've lost.

Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The people who really run organizations are usually found several levels down, where it is still possible to get things done.

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods



I could do this all day...

[Frelga]

HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Or just the first paragraph, I guess.

[Frelga]

Still Pratchett, from Carpe Jugulum

only those with their feet on rock can build castles in the air.

...
At least three good posters in this dialog


There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment on the nature of sin. for example." [answered Mightily Oats.]
"And what do they think? Against it, are they?"
"It's not as simple as that. It's not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray."
"Nope."
"Pardon?"
"There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
"It's a lot more complicated than that--"
"No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts."
"Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--"
"But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

[Primula Baggins]

From the Vorkosigan saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold:

The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future.

Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.

You don't pay back your parents. You can't. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn.

The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire . . . is your heart.

[Impenitent]

I have several from Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody books).

It is a misconception that the innocent sleep well. The worse a man is, the more profound his slumber; for if he had a conscience, he would not be a villain.

If someone lies down and invites you to trample him, you are a remarkable person if you decline the invitation.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[Nin]

Several of my favorite quotes are from German books, so the translation is by me:

"There is nothing good, except if you do it" Erich Kästner (Es gibt nichts Gutes, ausser man tut es) - I really like that.

"There are some things you just have to do. If you don't, you are not a human, you are just a little piece of dirt." (Astrid Lindgren - one of the quotes which marked my childhood)