# Quote — Terry Pratchett, Nation

> The gods let you down. When you needed them they weren’t there. That is it, and all of it. To worship them now would be to kneel before bullies and murderers.

- Author: [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md)
- Book: [Nation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation.md)
- Page: 168
- 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/the-gods-let

## 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)