News is unusual things happening— And usual things happening [...] But news is mainly what someone somewhere doesn't want you to put in the paper— Except that sometimes it isn't [...] News, [...] all depends. But you'll know it when you see it.

If you must know, he said 'my goodness me, a walking potato

We're really good at it, Teppic thought. Mere animals couldn't possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.

His movements could be called cat-like, except that he did not stop to spray urine up against things.

Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving

This time it had been magic. And it didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done.

And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.

[The pamphlet] was very patriotic. That is, it talked about killing foreigners.

What're quantum mechanics?" "I don't know. People who repair quantums, I suppose.