# Quote — Terry Pratchett, Nation

> Her father had said that if you knew where to look, you could find Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island, and loaned her a large magnifying glass. She spent long Sunday afternoons lying on her stomach, minutely examining every necklace of dots, and concluded that Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island was a Father Joke, i.e., not very funny but sort of lovable in its silliness.

- Author: [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md)
- Book: [Nation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation.md)
- Page: 76
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nation_(novel)#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/her-father-had

## More from this book

> “That’s unfair!” said Daphne.
>
> “No, it’s science,” said her father. “‘Could have’ isn’t good enough. Nor is ‘might have’! ‘Did’ is the trick.”

p. 335 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/thats-unfair-said.md)

> No one stuck up their hands and there was no voting, but she thought, I wonder if it was like this in ancient Athens? This is pure democracy. People don’t just get a vote; they have a say.

p. 276 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/no-one-stuck.md)

> “What about the hangman? Doesn’t he do murder, then?”
>
> [No, because enough people say it isn’t. That’s what a courtroom is for. It’s where the law happens.]
>
> “And that makes it right? Didn’t God say, ‘Thou shalt not kill’?”
>
> [Yes. But after that it got complicated.]

p. 260 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation/what-about-the.md)