Help finding quote!

[LauraJerry]

Hi!

I'm trying to find a quote. I'm pretty sure it's from The Discworld series, but I can't for the life of me remember which book.

It should be something like this:

"What people really want is to wake up each day, knowing it's going to be just like the one before it."

... or something similar to that.

Does anyone know the actual quote or where I can find it (what book it's in)?

Thanks so much!

 

[Tonyblack]

Hi Laura and welcome to the site.

I think the quote you are after is by Lord Vetinari in Feet of Clay and it goes like this:

"If it continues long enough, even a reign of terror may become a fondly remembered period. People believe they want justice and wise government but, in fact, what they really want is an assurance that tomorrow will be very much like today."

 

[Penfold]

Well done Tony, I was racking my brain trying to remember where I had seen it before and failing abysmally.

 

[Tonyblack]

I thought it was G! G! for a while - Vetinari's "Sea of Evil" speech.

 

[Tonyblack]

Just actually dug up the passage in Feet of Clay and it's not quite the same as the one I posted earlier. I got that one by Googling, I'll try and post the actual passage from FoC tomorrow - I'm too tired to do so now.

 

[Tonyblack]

Here’s the proper quote from Feet of Clay (page 93 + 94 Corgi paperback edition).

He’d said to Vimes once, in this very room, standing at this very window: ‘They think they want good government and justice for all, Vimes, yet what is it they really crave, deep in their hearts? Only that things go on as normal and tomorrow is pretty much like today.’

 

[LauraJerry]

Ah! Perfect!! Thank you!!! :clap:

 

[shigaburiga]

Bumping this. I am trying to find the original quote and source concerning the trolls' view on time--why they think they are going through time facing backward and all. TIA

 

[Tonyblack]

Welcome to the site!

I'm drawing a blank on the actual book at the moment, but the Discworld Wiki has this to say:

One of the more sophisticated aspects of Trollish culture is their traditional view of time. As the past, where we have been, can be 'seen', whereas the future, where we are going, lies in front of us, they logically conclude we are going through time facing backwards. Also, since they are a nocturnal race, the trollish equivalent of the "Dawn of Time" is the "Sunset of Time."

Full article HERE

 

[shigaburiga]

Thanks!

lol yeah that's all I got also. I am trying to find the exact quote and source, though.

 

[Tonyblack]

OK - it's in The Light Fantastic. I had a flash of inspiration. I think the whole thing is over several pages, but in my Corgi paperback - page 116 - Rincewind meets a troll named Kwartz while looking for onions. There's something about the "sunset of time" and a footnote.

Not sure where the rest of it is, but that should point you in the right direction.

 

[shigaburiga]

Will check that up. Thanks!

 

[Jo of the Gates]

I should never have expected to find the quote I want just when I need it! It's in one of the Tiffany Aching books, and it is a description of the chalk hills that just took my breath away when I read it. Now I want very much to read it as a brief example of Sir Terry's gift for imagery, and of course I can't find it! Anyone?

 

[Tonyblack]

It's got to be in the first or possibly second book in the Tiffany series. I'll ask Sharlene as she loves that series, but do you have any more info to help pin it down? :think:

 

[Jo of the Gates]

Sorry, no. I read these a few years ago and haven't been back to them. I seem to remember it being in the latter part of the story, as a realization of a Large Truth about Things as she learns her craft and herself. It included a description of the millions of minuscule creatures whose skeletons and carapaces went to make the chalk that make the hills.

 

[swreader]

I'm not sure this image is what you're thinking of---Terry so often uses/re-uses with modifications, images throughout a series. But, based on your thought that it is late in the book, is it the conversation that Tiffany has with the Hiver (in HFOS) who is becoming Arthur? Specifically (see -p. 241 American edition Hardback), Tiffany tells the hiver that it is not alone, and that they are actually quite alike. She uses a fully developed image of realizing that she is part of everything that went before her (from physical characteristics to psychological). And she knows (p. 243) that what had once been living creatures is now the chalk of the hills."

But Terry uses that same image in ISWM when Tiffany &the Kelda are talking in the chalk pit. There Tiffany sees a "ghost" of one of the fossils fishes swimming briefly through the air is a reference to an ancient creature swimming along actually through the air. And to further complicate matters, when Granny brings Tiffany out from the control of the Hiver, in Hat Full of Sky, Tiffany finds herself swimming through a white soup that she realizes is the chalk, the bones of her body and her body is the chalk. Remember when the Feegles are inside her head fighting for her soul -- the green land (they think) turns out to be Tiffany herself.

Don't know if these ideas helped at all, but as Terry is fond of pointing out, everything is related to everything else.

 

[Jo of the Gates]

Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. I had meant to read it to my book club last Tuesday, but now I think I will read it to them next week, even though the theme is different. They need to hear it!

 

[Tonyblack]

I knew Sharlene would know it.