Eléments de sociologie pratchettienne (5)

Où l'on découvre une théorie géographique de la légitimité et de la puissance du prophète - Weber aurait approuvé - et, plus subtilement, peut-être l'une de mes premières sources d'inspiration sociologique...

[A propos de Miss Marietta Cosmopolite, couturière à la retraite] She is known occasionally to run a haberdashery shop and is also, much against her wishes, a religious icon. This is because people always assume that wisdom is, well, more wise if it comes from a long way away. So while impressionnable people in Ankh-Morpork follow the parth of distant religious teachers with names like Rimpo and Gompa, the orange-robed, bald young men from the hight mountains follow the Way of Mrs Cosmopolite (down to the shops, dropping in on her sister for a cup of tea, an appointment with the chiropodist, and then back home). Principal among these was the skilled Lu-Tze, who has collected all her cosmically wie saying (such as 'It'll all end in tears'), and find them a pretty good guide to understanding the universe. Wisdom is where you find it.

Terry Pratchett (avec la collaboration de Stephen Briggs), The new Discworld Companion, p. 96-97