Roger Zelazny Quotes

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.

~ Roger Zelazny

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.

~ Roger Zelazny

Collins and Morales represent a segment of society which, if attacked with the weapons society sanctions, one finds buffered by innumerable layers of law, bureaucracy, lies, evasions. They rest secure within their palaces, confident that they possess defenses against all possible attacks within the rules of the game, yet willing to violate those rules themselves. ... We both know that although it is not listed in the rules, a player can end the game by kicking over the board and throttling his opponent.

~ Roger Zelazny

In a world of physical ease, brutal social equality, and reasonable economic equality, exclusiveness in frivolity becomes the most sought-after of all distinctions.

~ Roger Zelazny

Do you work for the government, any government?”I pay taxes, which means I work for the government, part of the time. Yes.

~ Roger Zelazny

In the State of Denmark there was the odor of decay...

~ Roger Zelazny

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.

~ Roger Zelazny

You are one of the few successful persons I know.Me? Why?You know precisely what you are doing and you do it well.But I don't really do much of anything.And of course the quantity means nothing to you, nor the weight others place upon your actions. In my eyes, that makes you a success.By not giving a damn? But I do, you know.Of course you do, of course you do! But it is a matter of style, an awareness of choice—

~ Roger Zelazny

Good-bye and hello, as always.

~ Roger Zelazny

Besides, I like libraries. It makes me feel comfortable and secure to have walls of words, beautiful and wise, all around me. I always feel better when I can see that there is something to hold back the shadows.

~ Roger Zelazny

It was my turn to be silent while a small family of moments crossed my path, single file, from the left, sticking their tongues out at me.

~ Roger Zelazny

The day of battle dawned pink as the fresh-bitten thigh of a maiden.

~ Roger Zelazny

If someone asks you why you're oppressing a world and you reply with a lot of poetic crap, no. I guess there can't be a meeting of minds.

~ Roger Zelazny