'In fact, as they will be delighted to tell you, Taunton is no longer a one-horse town these days,they have a bicycle as well.'

'I'm an archaeologist,' said Hildy. 'I dig up the past.'The King raised an eyebrow. 'You mean you refresh old quarrels and keep alive old grievances? Surely not.No, no,' said Hildy, 'I dig up ancient things buried in the earth. Things that belonged to people who lived hundreds of years ago.' As she said this, she began to feel uncomfortable. She had forgotton about the brooch.'Do you really?' said the King. 'We used to call that grave-robbing.'

'The King rose slowly to his feet and beckoned to the wizard, who had been sitting outside the circle of the firelight, apparently, trying to find a spell that would make a beer-can magically refill itself.'

'I spy,' said the first mate, 'with my little eye, something beginning with W.'Nobody took any notice. Even Jan Christian Duysberg had guessed that one back in the 1740's, and he had been thirty-four years old before he realised he was left-handed. - c.2

'Be my guest,' Vanderdecker said. 'You can watch a master liar at work, if you don't mind being an accomplice.Doesn't worry me,' Jane replied, 'I'm an accountant.' - c. 8

'At any given time, ninety-nine-point-nine-five per cent of the human race are a confounded nuisance'

In the beginning was the Word. Nobody knows what it actually was, although it would be nice to think that it was 'Sorry.' - c. 2

'The best definition of an immortal is someone who hasn't died yet.'

'Jason squared his shoulders, drew the Sword of - I couldn't give a toss what it's supposed to be called, he said to himself, I shall call it Freckles - and took one step forward.'

'How many spectral warriors does it take to change a light-bulb? One, and a stepladder. At a pinch, of course, he could stand on a chair.'