Being dead is a difficult thing to get over

I've said before that Going Postal has a lot of good quotes and bits (aside from being one of my favourite Discworld books), and I readily stand by that. There's many to choose from, from Mr. Pump's remarks on the consequences of Lipwig's crimes, to fooling honest men. However, as great as all of those are, there's one that's been sticking in my mind most prominently, both before and after having re-read the book.

I wonder if it’s like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains, and you know that one day one of them’s going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it, because it’s so-oo good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you’ll die falling.

Aside from the great writing on its own terms, the bit also gets a fair amount of strength from it's place in the story. It's come right after Moist attempts the impossible by challenging the Grand Trunk to in delivering a message to Genua. And, of course, he doesn't have any plan for it--the challenge was to stop the Ankh Morpork Times' front page being filled with empty words from the Trunk's chairman and likewise con artist, Reacher Gilt. However, nobody believes that Lipwig doesn't have a plan; his previous actions as Postmaster has built up the image of the Man in the Golden Suit who can do anything. And the thing is, that actually gives him pause. Lipwig is uneasy about the act he's made in everyone's eyes, and he's ashamed and uncomfortable about his methods when he does succeed.

The moment comes right off the heels of Lipwig performing stunt after stunt, to great success, and right before he's thrown into a scramble for the biggest act of impossibility he's had to try yet. And here, it's this moment of beautiful quiet. Moist von Lipwig, the man who lives on making up the world as he goes on the fly, pauses, and thinks about it all.