"Multiple exclamation marks," he went on, shaking his head, "are a sure sign of a diseased mind."
Interpretation
Using excessive exclamation marks suggests a lack of sanity or control in communication.
Terry Pratchett humorously critiques the use of multiple exclamation marks in writing, implying that such over-exuberance points to irrationality or an inability to communicate effectively. His witty observation highlights a common quirk in written expression, suggesting that moderation is key for clear and sane communication.
In practice
This quote could be used in a workshop on effective writing techniques.
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.
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.
Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.
You can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. I mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.
Any fool could be a witch with a runic knife, but it took skill to be one with an apple corer.
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.
My sense of humor has saved me more than a couple of times in my life.
I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.
Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read.
I believe comedy is a really good lens to filter serious issues through. If people are laughing, they don't necessarily realize until they stop laughing that they just took something in that's going to start a conversation.
Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot. I implore you, send him back to his father and brothers, who are waiting for him with open arms in the penitentiary. I suggest that we give him ten years in Leavenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth.
Him, who incessantly laughs in the street, you may commonly hear grumbling in his closet.
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