‘The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”
‘“But,” says Man, “the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.”
Small Gods is a masterful fantasy comic satire on religious institutions, religious fundamentalism, philosophy, and the weaponisation of religious fanaticism for political power, set in the Discworld. It explores how religious beliefs and faith shift and change over time, from being centred on the deity to being centred on the religious institution itself. Rereading this was an absolute joy! @bookstodon#SmallGods#terrypratchett#bookreview#reading#books#discworld https://bookwyrm.social/user/Narayoni/review/2879341
A lovely metaphor from Om about the nothingness after life
"‘About life being like a sparrow flying through a room? Nothing but darkness outside? And it flies through the room and there’s just a moment of warmth and light?’
‘There are windows open?’ said Brutha.
‘Can’t you imagine what it’s like to be that sparrow, and know about the darkness? To know that afterwards there’ll be nothing to remember, ever, except that one moment of the light?’" @bookstodon#SmallGods#terrypratchett#bookquotes
I totally agree with you Urn, sometimes laughing at something is the only thing that can keep you sane, what with going on in the world.
"He remembered Didactylos saying the world was a funny place. And, he thought distantly, it really was. Here people were about to roast someone to death, but they’d left his loin-cloth on, out of respectability. You had to laugh. Otherwise you’d go mad." #SmallGods by #terrypratchett @bookstodon#discworld#GNUPterry#books#reading#discworldquotes
"He fumbled under his robe and produced something that looked, to Fergmen’s eye, very much like a torture instrument. This must have communicated itself to Urn, who said very slowly and kindly: ‘This is an ad-just-ab-ble span-ner.’
‘Yes?’
‘It’s for twisting nuts off.’
Fergmen nodded miserably."
Religion with its somewhat random rules 😂 🤣
"‘I nearly committed a terrible sin,’ said Brutha. ‘I nearly ate fruit on a fruitless day.’
‘That’s a terrible thing, a terrible thing,’ said Om. ‘Now cut the melon.’
‘But it is forbidden!’ said Brutha.
‘No it’s not,’ said Om. ‘Cut the melon.’But it was the eating of fruit that caused passion to invade the world,’ said Brutha.
‘All it caused was flatulence,’ said Om. ‘Cut the melon!’" @bookstodon#SmallGods#terrypratchett#reading#books#discworld
These lines made me wonder: how many people actually believe in God, and not the Institution, out of fear or just because it's what everyone does.
"… it can’t be just him who believes in me.
Really in me. Not in a pair of golden horns. Not in a great big building. Not in the dread of hot iron and knives. Not in paying your temple dues because everyone else does. Just in the fact that the Great God Om really exists." @bookstodon#SmallGods#terrypratchett#reading#discworld#bookquotes
@cbontenbal
Funny, I myself am an atheist and always wonder why people believe in the supernatural, because I never came across a convincing reason why something like that should exist.
Your question feels like I have to explain the obvious. For me, it's impossible to explain atheism in a metaphysical way, because I can't describe something in terms of the very thing it rejects.
The thought that we were once apes who invented things like electricity, politics and Gods. And all because there was a proces called evolution which make that happen. Actually before mankind invented Gods, there were no atheists. I really like that contradiction.
Now that's exactly what I have always believed... My moral code in a nutshell, simple and to the point,with religion having nothing to do with it:
"What have I always believed?
That on the whole, and by and large, if a man lived properly, not according to what any priests said, but according to what seemed decent and honest inside, then it would, at the end, more or less, turn out all right." #SmallGods by #terrypratchett#discworld#discworldquotes@bookstodon#reading#religion#morality
Exactly my thoughts about the Creator and the state of the world
"But there were things to suggest to a thinking man that the Creator of mankind had a very oblique sense of fun indeed, and to breed in his heart a rage to storm the gates of heaven...
...The mugs, for example.
They had legends on them like A Present From the Holy Grotto of Ossory, or To The World’s Greatest Daddy" #SmallGods#terrypratchett#discworld#discworldquotes#reading@bookstodon#books#amreading#literature
An astute judge of human nature ain't he?
"And it all meant this: that there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.
Vorbis loved knowing that. A man who knew that, knew everything he needed to know about people." #SmallGods#terrypratchett#theturtlemoves#discworldquotes@bookstodon#GNUPterry#reading#books#quotes
The Citadel would be a fascist's wet dream...
"No matter what your skills, there was a place for you in the Citadel.
And if your skill lay in asking the wrong kinds of questions or losing the righteous kind of wars, the place might just be the furnaces of purity, or the Quisition’s pits of justice.
A place for everyone. And everyone in their place."-from #SmallGods by #terrypratchett#discworld#discworldquotes@bookstodon#bookquotes#reading#dissent#fascism#GNUPterry
Starting this legendary series of books again! I didn’t actually read the very last one, because after Terry died I didn’t really want it to be over. Now it’s been a few years, and I originally started reading the series about 30 years ago (!) so it’s about time to reacquaint myself 📖
Pic: The Colour of Magic, the very first #Discworld novel, with a charming @hellogeri lucky cat sticker as a bookmark.
📖 According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, the world will end on a Saturday. A Saturday quite soon, in fact.
The whole of our six-part adapation of @neilhimself and Terry Pratchett's wonderful 1990 fantasy Good Omens is on BBC Sounds now - and you can listen from anywhere in the world. Tell your friends, good or evil.