Discworld 24 - The Fifth Elephant

But dwarf girls had heard about sequins. They seemed to have decided in their bones that if they were going to overturn thousands of years of subterranean tradition they weren’t going to go through all that for no damn twinset and pearls

It was simply that they also saw no point in distinguishing between the sexes anywhere but in private. There was no such thing as a dwarfish female pronoun or, once the children were on solids, any such thing as women’s work.

the other hand... the world wasn't moved by heroes or villains or even by policemen. It might as well be moved by symbols. All he knew was that you couldn't hope to try for the big stuff, like world peace and happiness, but you might just about be able to achieve some tiny deed that'd .make the world, in a small way, a better place.

And you had a famous ancestor, I believe, who was a regicide? Took an ax, he did, and cut the head off?”
Here it comes, thought Vimes.
“Yes, Stoneface Vimes,” he said, as levelly as possible. “I’ve always thought that word was a bit unfair, though. It was only one king. It wasn’t as if it was a hobby.”

Instead of the small round iron helmet which Vimes had always thought dwarfs were born with, it had a pointed leather hat with more leather flaps all around it.

Shut up, Sergeant. You’re a free troll. That’s an order.”

The thing about fires, Vimes had once observed, was that only an idiot got between them and a troll holding a two-thousand-pound crossbow. All hell hadn’t been let loose. It was merely Detritus. But from a few feet away you couldn’t tell the difference.

He was also a very alive copper and intended to remain that way.

was also a very alive copper and intended to remain that way.

they can disappear up a rope, they can make the rope disappear, too. Obviously.”