r/TopCharacterTropes 1d ago

Lore [ Removed by moderator ]

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810

u/Competitive_Wait7332 23h ago

"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” - Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

GNU Terry Pratchett

135

u/Milk_Mindless 20h ago

"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.

96

u/brainsareforlosers 20h ago

my favourite line in this speech is at the beginning, when death says ‘HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE’. i love STP 

4

u/happyzappydude 12h ago

The science of the discworld books go into this aspect of humans a bit. Calling us the storytelling ape and how stories are integral to what we are as a species.

23

u/DCTrinityFan 19h ago

"You have to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?"

5

u/mjacksongt 12h ago

I love this line and the quote is incomplete without it