Quotes About Observation

Someone got killed up here.... It was outside. A tall man. He had one leg longer'n the other. And a beard. He was probably a hunter. How'd you know all that? I just trod on 'im.

Polly felt questing eyes boring into her. She was embarrassed, of course. But not for the obvious reason. It was for the other one, the little lesson that life sometimes rams home with a stick: you are not the only one watching the world. Other people are people; while you watch them they watch you, and they think about you while you think about them. The world isn't just about you.

And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.

Few things are hidden from a quiet child with good eyesight.

But you ain't part of it, are you? said Granny conversationally. You try, but you always find yourself watchin' yourself watchin' people, eh? Never quite believin' anything? Thinkin' the wrong thoughts?

There was never anything to be gained from observing what humans said to one another--language was just there to hide their thoughts.

Sometimes it's like watching a wasp land on a stinging nettle: someone's going to get stung and you don't care.

They say that there can never be two snowflakes that are exactly alike, but has anyone checked lately?

A bad hunter chases, a good hunter waits.

They say that the eyes of some paintings can follow you around the room, a fact that I doubt, but I am wondering whether some music can follow you for ever.

Behind her, Preston grunted and said, I know it's not the right thing to say to a lady, miss, but you are sweating like a pig! Tiffany, trying to get her shattered thoughts together, muttered, My mother always said that horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies merely glow... Is that so? said Preston cheerfully. Well, miss, you are glowing like a pig!

Legitimate First watched them go as they walked away. Sergeant Colon felt he was being measured up. I've always wondered about his name, said Nobby, turning and waving. I mean...Legitimate? Can't blame a mother for being proud, Nobby, said Colon.

The small alien walked past the car. "CO2 level up 0.5 percent," it rasped, giving him a meaningful look. "You do know you could find yourself charged with being a dominant species while under the influence of impulse-driven consumerism, don't you?

No one actually saw it land, which raised the interesting philosophical point: When millions of tons of angry elephant come spinning through the sky, but there is no one to hear it, does it - philosophically speaking - make a noise?

The nose is also the only organ that can see backwards in time.

What's magic, eh? Just wavin' a stick an' sayin' a few wee magical words. An' what's so clever aboot that, eh? But lookin' at things, really lookin' at 'em, and then workin' 'em oout, now, that's a real skill.

Only Ron's dog was watching William. He considered that it had, for a dog, a very offensive and knowing look. A couple of months ago someaone had tried to hand William the old story about there being a dog in the city that could talk. (...) The dog in front of William didn't look as if it could talk, but it DID look as if it would swear.

History has to be observed. Otherwise it's not history. It's just … well, things happening one after another.

Greebo had spent an irritating two minutes in that box. Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or it may be dead. You never know until you look. In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.

Mr Vimes, said Mrs Winkings, ve cannot help but notice that you still haf not employed any of our members in the Vatch... Say 'Watch', why don't you? Vimes thought. I know you can. Let the twenty-third letter of the alphabet enter your life.

I know it's not the right thing to say to a lady, miss, but you are sweating like a pig! My mother always said that horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies merely glow… Is that so? Well, miss, you are glowing like a pig!

Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things. Well-known fact," said Granny. "But I don't hold with encouraging it.

The horsemen came closer. Vimes was not good at horsemen. Something in him resented being addressed by anyone eight feet above the ground. He didn't like the sensation of being looked at by nostrils.

He'd forgotten the ancient wisdom: take care, when you are closely observing, that you are not closely observed.