Yeardley Smith
American actress
Terry Pratchett was an acclaimed English author best known for his Discworld fantasy novels. He was a prolific writer, producing over 40 books, and received numerous awards for his contributions to literature. Despite being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease late in his life, Pratchett remained an influential and beloved figure in the literary world until his passing in 2015.
Table of Contents
About the Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omensin 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (now Alzheimer’s Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Frequently Asked Questions
Terry Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist best known for his Discworld series of fantasy novels.
Terry Pratchett wrote 41 Discworld novels, which were published between 1983 and 2015.
Terry Pratchett co-wrote the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens with Neil Gaiman in 1990.
Terry Pratchett was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998, was knighted in 2009, and received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In 2007, Terry Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He died on March 12, 2015, at the age of 66.
The Discworld series, with over 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, made Terry Pratchett the UK’s best-selling author of the 1990s.
The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983.
23 Quotes by Terry Pratchett
- 1.
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 2.
Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don’t find out til too late that he’s been playing with two queens all along.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 3.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 4.
Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 5.
The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 6.
Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 7.
You can’t trample infidels when you’re a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 8.
Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 9.
It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It’s called living.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 10.
In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 11.
Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 12.
Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 13.
The intelligence of the creature known as a crowd, is the square root of the number of people in it.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 14.
Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 15.
In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 16.
He was the sort of person who stood on mountaintops during thunderstorms in wet copper armour shouting “All the Gods are bastards.”
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 17.
Sooner or later we’re all someone’s dog.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 18.
Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 19.
It’s not worth doing something unless you were doing something that someone, somewere, would much rather you weren’t doing.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 20.
Taxation is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 21.
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 22.
Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)
- 23.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it’s not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.
Terry PratchettEnglish fantasy author (1948-2015)