"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.
I want to have fun. Life ain't no dress rehearsal. I want to have fun. I'm a comedian; I ain't no politician. So everything I do is with humor, with love.
Bigamy is the only crime where two rites make a wrong.
I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat animals who are.
Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators.
Sudden glory is the passion which maketh those grimaces called laughter.
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead.
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