---
title: "Next comes the realist phase ('After all, from a purely geometrical p… — Terry Pratchett Quote #76 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "Next comes the realist phase ('After all, from a purely geometrical point of view a cat is only a tube with a door at the top.'). — a quote by Terry Pratchett."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # Next comes the realist phase ('After all, from a purely geometrical point of view a cat is only a tube with a door at the top.').

[Terry Pratchett](https://quotesby.net/Terry-Pratchett)\#76

[Complexity](https://quotesby.net/Terry-Pratchett/complexity/)[Perspective](https://quotesby.net/topics/perspective/)[Realism](https://quotesby.net/topics/realism/)[Simplification](https://quotesby.net/topics/simplification/)[Thinking](https://quotesby.net/topics/thinking/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?Realism can reduce complex beings to simple geometric forms.In plain termsRealists see cats as simple tubes.What can you take from it?Realism simplifies life too much.

### Where it applies

- problem solving
- critique
- analysis

### Putting it to work

- consider complexity
- avoid oversimplification
- use multiple views

### Questions to consider

- When is simplification useful?
- What do you lose when simplifying?

### Another view

Simplification helps clarity sometimes.

## More from Terry Pratchett

1. > It's an interesting fact that fewer than 17 % of Real cats end their lives with the same name they started with. Much family effort goes into selecting one at …

[Permalink to quote \#75](https://quotesby.net/Terry-Pratchett/75/ "Permalink to quote 75")
2. > Everyone's heard of Erwin Schrodinger's famous thought experiment. You put a cat in a box with a bottle of poison, which many people would suggest is about as …

[Permalink to quote \#77](https://quotesby.net/Terry-Pratchett/77/ "Permalink to quote 77")
3. > Cats don't hunt seals. They would if they knew what they were and where to find them. But they don't, so that's all right.

[Permalink to quote \#74](https://quotesby.net/Terry-Pratchett/74/ "Permalink to quote 74")

## Related quotes

1. > There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.

[Alfred North Whitehead](https://quotesby.net/Alfred-North-Whitehead)[Alfred North Whitehead quote \#51](https://quotesby.net/Alfred-North-Whitehead/51/ "Permalink to quote 51")
2. > The continuum in which we live is not the kind of place in which middles can be unambiguously excluded.

[Reuben Abel](https://quotesby.net/Reuben-Abel)[Reuben Abel quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Reuben-Abel/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")
3. > Genius is the ability to look at things simply.

[E. Lee Spence](https://quotesby.net/E.-Lee-Spence)[E. Lee Spence quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/E.-Lee-Spence/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")

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