Quote of the Day: ‘Good and Hard’

‘“When you break rules, break ’em good and hard,' said Nanny, and grinned a set of gums that were more menacing than teeth." – Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett. "Nobody ever told me it was hard" – Terry Pratchett, (possibly slightly paraphrased from an interview).

Being good doesn’t have to be hard. That’s a lesson I try to hold on to from Terry Pratchett. Sometimes people are just good at something, and that’s when the rules meant to teach how to do it really get in the way.

Sometimes it’s better to be expressive (as an art book I came across recently put it) than to be accurate. (As someone whose drawing efforts fall into that category rather better,[1] I found this encouraging.) Sometimes "the rules" seem made more to discourage beginners than to help them. This has never seemed quite honest to me.

Terry Pratchett (whom I’ve long held to be, at the time, the greatest living writer in the English language)[2] was among the best examples of someone who didn’t see the need to make being good be hard and who, in breaking the rules good and hard himself, provides encouragement to the rest of us.

‘Nobody ever told me it was hard,’ he said. And I say to you, nor does it have to be. Go out and enjoy.

[1] Though I am learning how to notice some of the other things, too.

[2] To rank with Shakespeare – whose plays the book the first quote is drawn from has some gentle fun with.