After 66 inspiring years and a career spanning 70 magical books, fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett passed away yesterday. According to an official letter released by Penguin Random House, the novelist has been struggling with Alzheimer’s disease since he was diagnosed in 2007.
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This didn’t stop Pratchett from colouring in the wittiest and most thoughtful corners of our imaginations as he continued writing and managed to complete his last Discworld novel in 2014.
A full statement from Larry Finlay, managing director at Transworld Publishers said the following:
I was deeply saddened to learn that Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention. Terry faced his Alzheimer’s disease (an ’embuggerance’, as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come. My sympathies go out to Terry’s wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him.
Fans from across the globe are mourning his death as much as they are celebrating his legacy by sharing memorable, tongue-in-cheek quotes on Twitter and other social platforms:
23 of the most beautiful Terry Pratchett quotes to remember him by http://t.co/JruHpOPh7q pic.twitter.com/GE7daqJZhb
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) March 12, 2015
Terry #Pratchett was a reminder that fantasy shouldn't lose its sense of fun to be taken seriously. He was great. pic.twitter.com/V2nPorXP33
— Oliver Milne (@OliverMilne) March 12, 2015
Truth. #TerryPratchett pic.twitter.com/EQz0pGJR4a
— jadedjenny (@jadedjenny71) March 12, 2015
"Human beings make life so interesting… In a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom."
#TerryPratchett
— Tom Mison (@TomMison) March 12, 2015
"So much universe, and so little time."- #TerryPratchett @terryandrob
— Polly Scattergood (@pollyworld) March 13, 2015
"It’s not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it." RIP Sir Terry Pratchett #TerryPratchett
— Heather Huston (@hshuston) March 13, 2015
All the life advice you need from #TerryPratchett. http://t.co/BIdXc1Temw pic.twitter.com/VK31phM6hX
— Concrete Playground (@PLAYGROUNDnews) March 13, 2015
Rest in peace, Sir Terry Pratchett. pic.twitter.com/eSa2qOuzCO
— Classic FM (@ClassicFM) March 12, 2015
RIP Sir #TerryPratchett, who taught us so much about magic. http://t.co/VAkVCJ91z8 pic.twitter.com/QQmB2N1av5
— goodreads (@goodreads) March 12, 2015
"Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape." — #TerryPratchett
— Stuart Thomas (@Stu_Thom4s) March 13, 2015
"No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away." Sir Terry Pratchett
— Lichi (@el_idioto) March 13, 2015
"If you don’t turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else’s story." #TerryPratchettQuotes : http://t.co/JwsHdRH3am
— Vicky Mason (@VickyMason) March 13, 2015
In reflection of his spirit and inspiring character, Pratchett’s personal Twitter account tweeted the following just before he passed on:
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
The End.
— Terry Pratchett (@terryandrob) March 12, 2015
