45
" Granny Weatherwax personally disliked young Pewsey. She disliked all small children, which is why she got on with them so well. In Pewsey's case, she felt that no one should be allowed to wander around in just a vest even if they were four years old. And the child had a permanently runny nose and ought to be provided with a handkerchief or, failing that, a cork.
Nanny Ogg, on the other hand, was instant putty in the hands of any grandchild, even one as sticky as Pewsey
"Want sweetie," growled Pewsey, in that curiously deep voice some young children have.
"Just in a moment, my duck, I'm talking to the lady," Nanny Ogg fluted.
"Want sweetie now."
"Bugger off, my precious, Nana's busy right this minute."
Pewsey pulled hard on Nanny Ogg's skirts.
"Now sweetie now!"
Granny Weatherwax leaned down until her impressive nose was about level with Pewsey's gushing one.
"If you don't go away," she said gravely, "I will personally rip your head off and fill it with snakes."
"There!" said Nanny Ogg. "There's lots of poor children in Klatch that'd be grateful for a curse like that."
Pewsey's little face, after a second or two of uncertainty, split into a pumpkin grin.
"Funny lady," he said. "
― Terry Pratchett , Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4)
54
" What is magic?
Then there is the witches' explanation, which comes in two forms, depending on the age of the witch. Older witches hardly put words to it at all, but may suspect in their hearts that the universe really doesn't know what the hell is going on and consists of a zillion trillion billion possibilities, and could become any one of them if a trained mind rigid with quantum certainty was inserted into the crack and twisted; that, if you really had to make someone's hat explode, all you needed to do was twist into that universe where a large number of hat molecules all decide at the same time to bounce off in different directions.
Younger witches, on the other hand, talk about it all the time and believe it involves crystals, mystic forces, and dancing about without yer drawers on.
Everyone may be right, all at the same time. That's the thing about quantum. "
― Terry Pratchett , Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4)