# Quote — Terry Pratchett, Nation

> 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.

- Author: [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md)
- Book: [Nation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/nation.md)
- Page: 303
- 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/they-had-the

## 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)