They had the well-fed, important, careful look of people who took care not to be at the top. A lot of… — Terry Pratchett
They had the well-fed, important, careful look of people who took care not to be at the top. A lot of government people like them had dined at the Hall. They had learned over the years that the top was not a happy or safe place to be. One rung down, that was the place for a sensible man. You advised the king, you had a lot of power, in a quiet kind of way, and you didn’t get murdered anything like as often. And, if the ruler started to get funny ideas and it became a bit of an embarrassment, you just…took care of things.
p. 303Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
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
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
“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
