“The Patrician took a sip of his beer. ‘I have told this to few people, gentlemen, and I suspect I never will again, but one day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald, I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I’m sure you will agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half-submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen: mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that’s when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.’” - Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals
“There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.” - Terry Pratchett, in response to rumors he had become religious in response to his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
“When you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer it’s nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong-minded atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout, ‘Oh, random-fluctuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!’ or ‘Aaargh, primitive-and-outmoded-concept on a crutch!’” - Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
“If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do … 'cause that’s all there is: what we do, now, today. … All I want to do is help. I want to help because I don’t think people should suffer as they do. Because if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.” - Tim Minear, Angel, “Epiphany”
“Nothing worse than a monster who thinks he’s right with God.” - Brett Matthews, Firefly, “Heart of Gold.”