Roger Zelazny

“I saw my earlier selves as different people, acquaintances I had outgrown. I wondered how I could ever have been some of them.”

“Vishnu Vishnu Vishnu regarded regarded regarded Brahma Brahma Brahma...They sat in the Hall of Mirrors.”

“Who are you, man?" "I? I am nothing," replied the other. "A leaf caught in a whirlpool. A feather in the wind..." "Too bad," said Yama, "for there are leaves and feathers enough in the world for me to have labored so long only to increase their number. I wanted me a man, one who might continue a war interrupted by his absence-a man of power who could oppose with that power the will of gods. I thought you were he." "I am"-he sqinted again-"Sam. I am Sam. Once- long ago... I did fight, didn't I? Many times..." "You were the Great-Souled Sam, the Budda. Do you remember?" "Maybe I was.." a slow fire was kindled in his eyes. "Yes," he said then. "Yes, I was. Humblest of the proud, proudest of the humble. I fought. I taught the Way for a time. I fought again, taught again, tried politics, magic, poison.. I fought one great battle so terrible the sun itself hid its face from the slaughter-with men and gods, with animals and demons, with spirits of the earth and air, of fire and water, with slizzards and horses, swords and chariots-" "And you lost," said Yama. "Yes, I did, didn't I? But it was quite a showing we gave them, wasn't it? You, deathgod, were my charioteer. It all comes back to me now. We were taken prisoner and the Lords of Karma were to be our judges. You escaped them by the will-death and the Way of the Black Wheel. I could not.”

“First, a man may in some ways be superior to his fellows and still serve them, if together they serve a common cause which is greater than any one man. I believe that I serve such a cause, or I would not be doing it.”

“Call themselves?" asked Yama. "You are wrong, Sam, Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being. One does not achieve it merely by being immortal, for even the lowliest laborer in the fields may achieve continuity of existence. Is it then the conditioning of an Aspect? No. Any competent hypnotist can play games with the self-image. Is it the raising up of an Attribute? Of course not. I can design machines more powerful and more accurate than any faculty a man may cultivate. Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken. Some ancient poet said that the world is full of echoes and correspondences. Another wrote a long poem of an inferno, wherein each man suffered a torture which coincided in nature with those forces which had ruled his life. Being a god is being able to recognize within one's self these things that are important, and then to strike the single note that brings them into alignment with everything else that exists. Then, beyond morals or logic or esthetics, one is wind or fire, the sea, the mountains, rain, the sun or the stars, the flight of an arrow, the end of a day, the clasp of love. One rules through one's ruling passions. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, 'He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love.' So, to reply to your statement, they do not call themselves gods. Everyone else does, though, everyone who beholds them.""So they play that on their fascist banjos, eh?""You choose the wrong adjective.""You've already used up all the others.”

“He smelled the smells of commerce and listened to the cursing of the sailors, both of which he admired: the former, as it reeked of wealth, and the latter because it combined his two other chief preoccupations, these being theology and anatomy.”

“I have a better idea,' said she. 'Know that under a mortal name am I mistress of the Palace of Kama in Khaipur.''The Fornicatorium, madam?'She frowned. 'As such is it often known to the vulgar, and do not call me 'madam' in the same breath-- it smacks of ancient jest. It is a place of rest, pleasure, holiness and much of my revenue.”

“Vişnu, Vişnu, Vişnu Brahma'ya, Brahma'ya, Brahma'ya baktı, baktı, baktı... Aynalar salonunda oturuyorlardı.”

“The most difficult thing about Time, I have learned, is doing it.”

“Time, too, is a function of Shadow, and even Dworkin did not know all of its ins and outs. Or perhaps he did. Maybe that is what drove him mad.”

“Ill met by moonlight,' said Deirdre.'You could still be tied to a stake,' said Random, and she did not reply.”

“I've always been impulsive. My thinking is usually pretty good, but I always seem to do it after I do my talking — by which time I've generally destroyed all basis for further conversation.”

“And the man clad in black and silver with a silver rose upon him? He would like to think that he has learned something of trust, that he has washed his eyes in some clear spring, that he has polished an ideal or two. Never Mind. He may still be only a smart-mouthed meddler, skilled mainly in the minor art of survival, blind as ever the dungeons knew him to the finer shades of irony. Never mind, let it go, let it be. I may never be pleased with him.”

“Thus did I bear Sir Lancelot de Lac to the Keep of Ganleon, whom I trusted like a brother. That is to say, not at all.”

“Of course it does not apply to me. I am the soul of honor, kindness, mercy and goodness. Trust me in all things.”

“In a room the size of a ballroom the Pattern was laid. The floor was black and looked smooth as glass. And on the floor was the Pattern. It shimmered like the cold fire that it was, quivered, made the whole room seem somehow unsubstantial. It was an elaborate tracery of bright power, composed mainly of curves, though there were a few straight lines near its middle. It reminded me of a fantastically intricate, life-scale version of one of those maze things you do with a pencil (or ballpoint, as the case may be), to get you into or out of something. Like, I could almost see the words “Start Here,” somewhere way to the back. It was perhaps a hundred yards across at its narrow middle, and maybe a hundred and fifty long. It made bells ring within my head, and then came the throbbing. My mind recoiled from the touch of it. But if I were a prince of Amber, then somewhere within my blood, my nervous system, my genes, this pattern was recorded somehow, so that I would respond properly, so that I could walk the bloody thing.”

“...even a mirror will not show you yourself, if you do not wish to see.”

“In the mirrors of the many judgments, my hands are the color of blood. I sometimes fancy myself an evil which exists to oppose other evils; and on that great Day of which the prophets speak but in which they do not truly believe, on the day the world is utterly cleansed of evil, then I too will go down into darkness, swallowing curses. Until then, I will not wash my hands nor let them hang useless.”

“Suchtimes are rare, such times are fleeting, but always bright when caught, measured, hung, and later regardedin times of adversity, there in the kinder halls of memory, against the flapping of the flames.”

“If you ever loved anything in your life, try to remember it. If you ever betrayed anything, pretend for a moment that you have been forgiven. If you ever feared anything, pretend for an instant that those days are gone and will never return. Buy the lie and hold to it for as long as you can. Press your familiar, whatever its name, to your breast and stroke it till it purrs.”

“When inspiration is silent reason tires quickly.”

“Then you must reconcile yourself to the fact that something is always hurt by any change. If you do this, you will not be hurt yourself.”

“His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.”

“Did you ever look back at some moment in your past and have it suddenly grow so vivid that all the intervening years seemed brief, dreamlike, impersonal—the motions of a May afternoon surrendered to routine?”

“I feel obligated to point out, though, that I have always been a sucker for ideas I find aesthetically pleasing. The cosmic sweep of the thing - an interstellar kula chain - affirming the differences and at the same time emphasizing the similarities of all the intelligent races in the galaxy - tying them together, building common traditions... The notion strikes me as kind of fine.”

“I watched the spinning stars, grateful, sad and proud, as only a man who has outlived his destiny and realizes he might yet forge himself another, can be.”

“Of all the things a man may do, sleep probably contributes most to keeping him sane. It puts brackets about each day. If you do something foolish or painful today, you get irritated if somebody mentions it, today. If it happened yesterday, though, you can nod or chuckle, as the case may be. You've crossed through nothingness or dream to another island in Time.”

“It is anticipation and recollection that fill the heart—never the sensation of the moment.”

“Your woman is gone and your heart is heavy. Words will not lighten the weight, and what is written is written. But let it also be put down that I grieve with you. ~Hasan~”

“An army, great in space, may offer opposition in a brief span of time. One man, brief in space, must spread his opposition across a period of many years if he is to have a chance of succeeding.”

“As I sailed into Shadow, a white bird of my desire came and sat upon my right shoulder, and I wrote a note and tied it to its leg and set it on its way. The note said "I am coming," and it was signed by me.A black bird of my desire came and sat upon my left shoulder, and I wrote a note and tied it to its leg and sent it off into the west. It said, "Eric- I'll be back," and it was signed: Corwin, Lord of Amber.A demon wind propelled me east of the sun.”

“But I recall the springtime of the world as though it were yesterday—those days when we rode together to battle, and those nights when we shook the stars loose from the fresh-painted skies!”

“It is a pain in the ass waiting around for someone to try to kill you.”

“When I said I wanted to die in my sleep, I meant I wanted to be stepped on by an elephant while making love.”

“Tonight I will suck the marrow from your bones!” it said. “I will dry them and work them most cunningly into instruments of music! Whenever I play upon them, your spirit will writhe in bodiless agony!”“You burn prettily,” I said.”

“The universe did not invent justice. Man did. Unfortunately, man must reside in the universe.”

“Borbom protiv sanjara koji sanja ružnoću, bili oni ljudi ili bogovi, ne možemo a da ne ispunjavamo istovremeno i volju Bezimenog. U toj borbi biće i patnje, čime čovek ujedno olakšava svoj karmički teret, što bi mu se, doduše, desilo i kada bi jednostavno trpeo rugobnost; ali ova patnja doprinosi višem cilju, a u svetlosti večitih vrednosti o kojima mudraci tako često govore.Prvo, čovek može da bude na izvestan način superioran u odnosu na svoje bližnje, pa ipak da im služi. Ako svi zajedno služe zajedničkoj stvari koja je po svome značaju iznad ma kog pojedinca.Ne zamišljaj, o Sidarta, da se sad krećeš neprepoznat zato što nosiš novo telo. Ja gledam one tokove energije koji sačinjavaju tvoje stvarno biće - ne gledam meso koje ih maskira.Čovekov intelekt sa emocijama njegovim često ratuje, a volja njegova sa željama njegovim... ideali njegovi često su neusklađeni sa njegovom okolinom, pa ako krene za njima, oseti bol što je napustio novi, uzvišeni san. Što god on radio, istovremeno i dobija i gubi, stiže ali se i udaljava. Uvek tuguje zbog stvari prošlih, i zazire od nekih stvari budućih. Razum se tradiciji protivi. Emocije se protive ograničenjima koja drugi ljudi čoveku nameću. Često u tim sudarima nastaje ono što si nazvao prokletstvom čovekai ismevao - krivica!Biti bog, to nije samo prazna titula. To je jedno stanje bića. Da bi se to postiglo nije dovoljno samo biti besmrtan, jer i najbedniji težak na njivama mogao bi da obezbedi sebi ujednačen opstanak.Biti bog sastoji se u tome da samog sebe ispoljiš do takve mere da se tvoje strasti podudare sa silama univerzuma, tako dobro da to odmah shvati svako ko te pogleda, iako nije čuo da se tvoje ime izgovara.Biti bog, to znači biti u stanju u sebi spoznati ono što je važno, a onda se osposobiti da osdsviraš onu jednu notu koja će dovesti te sile u tebi u savršeni sklad sa celokupnošću svih stvari koje postoje. Onda više nema diskusije o moralu, logici ili estetici, nego jednostavno jesi vetar, jesi vatra, ili more, planine, kiša, sunce, zvezde, jesi let strele, smiraj dana, zagrljaj ljubavi. Vladaš pomoću onih istih strasti koje vladaju tobom.Bilo bi lepo kad bi u univerzumu postojala bar jedna stvar konstantna, nepromenljiva. Ako takva stvar postoji, onda je sigurno od ljubavi jača, i sigurno je nešto meni nepoznato.Kako može čovek da ubije nešto što niti stvarno živi niti stvarno umire, nego postoji; samo kao refleksija Apsolutnoga?Bez obzira na skakutanje iz tela u telo, iz mozga u mozak, svaka ličnost zadržava svoj sopstveni umni otisak, svoje jedinstvene, neponovljive obrasce mišljenja.Smrt i svetlost su svuda, uvek, i opet, u svetom snu Bezimenog, počinju i okončavaju, bore se, prate, ulaze u san i iznad sna su, vatrene reči urezuju u Samsaru, da tamo možda stvore nešto što će biti lepo kao umetničko delo.”

“Ali čovek zaboravlja stvarnost i pamti samo reci. Što je reči više upamtio, to ga pametnijim smatrajunjegovi drugovi. On gleda velike transformacije sveta, ali ih ne vidi onako kako su bile sagledane od prvog čoveka koji se suočio sa stvarnošću.Radije tražite to Bezimeno u sebi, to što nadolazi dok mu se obraćam. Ono ne opaža moje reči, već realnost u meni, čiji je deo. To je atman, koji čuje mene, a ne moje reči. Sve ostalo je nestvarno. Definisati znači izgubiti. Bezimeno je suština svih stvari. Bezimeno je nesaznatljivo, moćnije čak i od samog Brame. Stvari prolaze, ali suština ostaje.Snovi bivstva su san u formama. Forme prolaze, nestaju, ali bivstvo ostaje; i sanja nove snove. Čovek tim snovima daje imena i zamišlja da je uhvatio bivstvo samo, a ne zna da samo priziva privide.PONEKAD, MOŽDA, POJAVI SE SANJAR KOJI JE SVESTAN DA SANJA. ON MOŽDA KONTROLIŠE DELIĆ SUPSTANCE SNA, U STANJU JE DA TOM SUPSTANCOM RASPOLAŽE PO SVOJOJ VOLJI, ILI MOŽDA USPEVA DA SE PONEKAD DELIMIČNO PROBUDI, DOSPEVAJUĆI TAKO DO POVEĆANE SAMOSPOZNAJE. AKO IZABERE PUT SAMOSPOZNAJE, NJEGOVA SLAVA ĆE BITI VELIKA, KROZ SVE VEKOVE ON ĆE SIJATI KAO ZVEZDA. ALI AKO SE, MEĐUTIM, OPREDELI ZA STAZU TANTRI, GDE SE SPAJAJU SAMSARA I NIRVANA, GDE SE SVET SHVATA ALI SE ISTOVREMENO U NJEMU ŽIVI, ON ĆE BITI JEDAN OD MOĆNIH MEĐU SANJARIMA. MOĆ SVOJU ON MOŽE UPOTREBITI ZA ZLO ILI ZA DOBRO.Živeti u Samsari, međutim, znači biti podložan uticaju moćnih sanjara. Ako oni moć koriste za dobro, nastaju zlatna vremena. Ako je koriste za zlo, nastaju mračna vremena. San se može preobraziti u košmar.Čovek mora prvo da odradi opterećenja svoje karme, svog mesa, tela, pre nego što dostigne prosvetljenje.U svetlosti večnih istina, kažu mudraci, patnja je kao ništa; u terminima Samsare, kažu mudraci, ona vodi dobru.Bezimeno, čiji smo deo svi mi, sanja formu. Koji je najviši atribut ijednoj formi dostupan? Lepota. Bezimeno je, dakle, umetnik. Problem, dakle, nije u oblasti dileme dobro - zlo, nego u estetskoj oblasti. Boriti se protiv onih koji su među sanjarima moćni a koji svoju moć koriste za zlo ili za ružnoću, ne znači boriti se za ono čemu su nas mudraci podučili da je besmisleno u terminima Samsare ili Nirvane, već znači boriti se da san bude sanjan, simetrično, ritmično, sa poentom i kontrapunktom, izbalansirano, tako da postane lep kao umetničko delo.”

“Good evening, Lord Corwin,' said the lean, cadaverous figure who rested against a storage rack, smoking his pipe, grinning around it.Good evening, Roger. How are things in the nether world?'A rat, a bat, a spider. Nothing much else astir. Peaceful.'You enjoy this duty?'He nodded.I am writing a philosophical romance shot through with elements of horror and morbidity. I work on those parts down here.”

“It would be nice if there were some one thing constant and unchanging in the universe. If there is such a thing, then it is a thing which would have to be stronger than love, and it is a thing which I do not know.”

“Blood!" I called out.Give me blood and vengeance this day, my warriors, and you will be remembered in Amber forever!"And as a man. they raised their weapons and cried out, "Blood!”

“You leap too quickly to his defense. It reveals his true attitude, of which he has doubtless made you aware.”

“I was willing to die fighting, but it was senseless for all these men to go down with me. Perhaps my blood was tainted, despite my power over the Pattern. A true prince of Amber should have had no such qualms. I decided then that my centuries on the Shadow Earth had changed me, softened me perhaps, had done something to me which made me unlike my brothers.”

“I walked among Shadows, and found a race of furry creatures, dark and clawed and fanged, reasonably manlike, and about as intelligent as a freshman in the high school of your choice-sorry, kids, but what I mean is they were loyal, devoted, honest, and too easily screwed by bastards like me and my brother. I felt like the dee-jay of your choice.”

“Are you going to do it?" he asked. "Maybe," I said.Don't 'maybe' me, baby. It's written all over you. I'd almost be willing to go along, you know. Of all my relations, I like sex the best and Eric the least."I lit a cigarette, while I considered.”

“Strygalldwir is my name. Conjure with it and I will eat your heart and liver.""Conjure with it? I can't even pronounce it, and my cirrhosis would give you indigestion.”

“To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, "I wish I had known this some time ago.”

“P.S. I still dunno if it's art. Go to Hell yourself. ”

“He spent the last second of his life screaming, as the force of Bortan's leap pulped him against the ground, before his head was snatched from his shoulders.My hellhound had arrived.”

“There's really nothing quite like someone's wanting you dead to make you want to go on living.”