QuoteProject
Ach, people are always telling us not to do things" said Rob Anybody, "that's how we ken the most interesting things to do.
Terry Pratchett
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that restrictions often lead to discovering unique and intriguing experiences.

Terry Pratchett's quote highlights the human tendency to rebel against conventional advice or warnings, implying that it is through exploring the 'forbidden' or 'discouraged' that we often find the most valuable and interesting life experiences. It challenges the idea that authority should always be obeyed and suggests that curiosity and exploration can lead to growth and joy.

Themes

CuriosityRebellionExplorationExperienceWisdom

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during a motivational speech to encourage students to pursue their interests despite societal limitations.

More from Terry Pratchett

And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement, and trespass charges already mentioned, and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy anymore. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after, without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done...which proves that you can be excused for just about anything if you are a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.
Terry PratchettRead
They've got something they do it with, I think it's called a mocracy, and it means everyone in the whole country can say who the new Tyrant is. One man ... one vet. ... Everyone has ... the vet. Except for women, of course. And children. And criminals. And slaves. And stupid people. And people of foreign extraction. And people disapproved of for, er, various reasons. And lots of other people. But everyone apart from them. It's a very enlightened civilization.
Terry PratchettRead
Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.
Terry PratchettRead
You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Terry PratchettRead
Any fool could be a witch with a runic knife, but it took skill to be one with an apple corer.
Terry PratchettRead
People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they're standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don't look quite like real science. But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity. And summer isn't a time. It's a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.
Terry PratchettRead

Similar quotes

Certain people, in their eagerness to construct a world no external threat can penetrate build exaggeratedly high defense againts the outside world, againts new people, new places, different experiences and leave their own world stripped bare. It is there that bitterness begins irrevocable work.
Paulo CoelhoRead
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. This prayer was first printed in a monthly bulletin of the Federal Council of Churches and has become enormously popular. It has been circulated in millions of copies.
Reinhold NiebuhrRead
Imaginative, sanguine men will never recognize that in negotiations the most dangerous moment of all is when everything is moving according to their wishes.
Honore De BalzacRead
And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.
Paul HardingRead
If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much!
Lewis CarrollRead
Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.
Jim RohnRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.