#hogfather – @heliophile-oxon on Tumblr

heliophile-oxon reblogged

jothehat

sirterrypratchett

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—"

- Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

#Hogfather #Terry Pratchett #Discworld

heliophile-oxon reblogged

amuseoffyre

fandomsandfeminism

Death turned to leave the room, but stopped when Hex began to write furiously. He went back and looked at the emerging paper.

+++ Dear Hogfather, For Hogswatch I Want—

OH, NO. YOU CAN’T WRITE LETT—Death paused, and then said, YOU CAN, CAN’T YOU.

+++ Yes. I Am Entitled +++

Death waited until the pen had stopped, and picked up the paper.

BUT YOU ARE A MACHINE. THINGS HAVE NO DESIRES. A DOORKNOB WANTS NOTHING, EVEN THOUGH IT IS A COMPLEX MACHINE.

+++ All Things Strive +++

YOU HAVE A POINT, said Death. He thought of tiny red petals in the black depths, and read to the end of the list.

The absolute silliness making an AI computer believe in Santa, and yet. Tears in my eyes.

#Discworld #Terry Pratchett #Hogfather

heliophile-oxon reblogged

jothehat

captorations

pratchett will write an entire book about the grim reaper pretending to be santa claus while the grim reaper’s granddaughter goes about hunting down the dumbass who decided to kill santa, and then right when you think you’re done and the oddly pointed shenanigans are winding down he hits you with “humans need fantasy to be human. to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape,” and knocks you into next wednesday

elfwreck

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.

————

“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… 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.”

vaspider

nooo now i’m crying

laele25

I will always reblog this with the full dialog, because it changed my life and Hogfather is my favorite Discworld book. “All right,“ said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to make life bearable.” REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. 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

#Hogfather #Terry Pratchett #DEATH in Hogfather on the big lies humans need to believe to be human (justice mercy duty that sort of thing)

heliophile-oxon reblogged

datsderbunnyblog

cosmicrhetoric

thinkin about that bit in hogfather where death is, you know, santa claus and he’s about to save the life of a little match girl dying in the snow and albert is like dude you’re DEATH you cant do that. little match girls are SUPPOSED to die in the snow this szn you really cant do that and death is like THE HOGFATHER CAN. THE HOGFATHER GIVES PRESENTS. THERES NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE. hello. sir terry rlly spent like 8 pages on a hangover joke and hit us with this in like two paragraphs.

#Discworld #Hogfather

heliophile-oxon reblogged

elodieunderglass

castellankurze

…WE HAVE BEEN INTO HOUSES WHERE THE CHILDREN HAD MANY TOYS AND BROUGHT THEM EVEN MORE TOYS, AND IN HOUSES LIKE THIS THE CHILDREN GET PRACTICALLY NOTHING.

“Huh, we’d have given anything to get practically nothing when I was a lad,” said Albert.

BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT, IS THAT IT?

“That’s about the size of it, master. A good god line, that. Don’t give ‘em too much and tell ‘em to be happy with it. Jam tomorrow, see?”

THIS IS WRONG, Death hesitated. I MEAN…IT’S RIGHT TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT. BUT YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT HAVING. THERE’S NO POINT BEING HAPPY ABOUT HAVING NOTHING.

Albert felt a bit out of his depth with this new tide of philosophy. “Dunno,” he said. “I suppose people’d say they’ve got the moon and the stars and suchlike.”

I’M SURE THEY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO PRODUCE THE PAPERWORK.

“All I know is, if Dad’d caught us with a big bag of pricey toys we’d have just got a ding round the ear hole for nicking ‘em.”

IT IS…UNFAIR.

“That’s life, master.”

BUT I’M NOT.

“I meant, this is how it’s supposed to go, master,” said Albert.

NO. YOU MEAN THIS IS HOW IT GOES. […] IT IS HOGSWATCH, said Death, AND PEOPLE DIE ON THE STREETS. PEOPLE FEAST BEHIND LIGHTED WINDOWS AND OTHER PEOPLE HAVE NO HOMES. IS THIS FAIR?

““Well, of course, that’s the big issue-” Albert began.

THE PEASANT HAD A HANDFUL OF BEANS, AND THE KING HAD SO MUCH HE WOULD NOT EVEN NOTICE THAT WHICH HE GAVE AWAY. IS THIS FAIR?

“Yeah, but if you gave it all to the peasant then in a year or two, he’d be just as snooty as the king-” began Albert, jaundiced observer of human nature.

NAUGHTY AND NICE? said Death. BUT IT’S EASY TO BE NICE IF YOU’RE RICH. IS THIS FAIR?

- ‘Hogfather’ by Sir Terry Pratchett. Not the most oft-repeated part of the book, but one worth rereading.

heliophile-oxon

IT’S EASY TO BE NICE IF YOU’RE RICH

But it’s mainly callous sociopathic people who become rich or stay that way; what a coincidence when most wealth is derived from the exploitation of others (hello capitalism).

#Discworld #quotations on what might be termed morality from Hogfather and Guards! Guards!#Hogfather #Terry Pratchett #capitalism is a low-grade continuous illness except when it's acute and kills people

heliophile-oxon reblogged

jothehat

jaythenerdkid-official

“Ah, well, yes, you see, one of the things that makes folks even more jolly is knowing there’re people who ain’t,” said Albert, in a matter-of-fact voice. “That’s how it goes, master. Master?”

NO. Death stood up. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULDN’T GO.

—Death doesn’t believe in trickle-down economics and neither should you (from Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett)

heliophile-oxon

Death doesn’t believe in trickle-down economics and neither should you

Pratchett’s Death, though utterly implacable, is more humane and a better human being than many of the people we encounter.

#rl #Pratchett #Pratchett's Death #Hogfather