219 quotes
“Petersburg socialism seems cold to the likes of our Cossacks, who would rather worship personalities than embrace ideas.”
I shared his irony. “You make them sound like Americans.”
The Steel Tsar (1981)
The man is a relic, gentlemen, from an age most of us have only read about. He would have us judged by our wealth and our martial glory rather than our goodwill and tranquility of spirit.
The Revenge of the Rose (1991)
“Once such a strength of illusion is introduced into a world,” said Goffanon, “then it is hard to be rid of it. It will cloud the Mabden minds for many millennia to come. I know that I am right.”
The Sword and the Stallion (1974)
Unlike so many politicians or military leaders they made no attempt to justify their mistakes, to cling to power. For them power held enormous responsibility and was merely invested in them temporarily.
The Steel Tsar (1981)
Destiny’s Champion,
Fate’s fool.
Eternity’s Soldier,
Time’s Tool.
Phoenix in Obsidian (1970)
Their glory in earthly power had brought them to decadent ruin, as it brought down all empires who gloried in gold or conquest or those other ambitions which can never be satisfied but must forever be fed.
The Revenge of the Rose (1991)
Time was the enemy of identity.
The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius (1976)
But now the Mob’s passing whim had become the only law, as Robespierre himself would soon discover. I felt cruelly betrayed: by the Revolution, by men I had embraced as brothers, by Circumstance, and, as always, by God.
The City in the Autumn Stars (1986)
Like so many fanatics, he possessed an appalling streak of timidity and terror which feared all that was not absolutely familiar. As his power increased, he would doubtless attempt to destroy anything that made him anxious.
The Steel Tsar (1981)
Ultimately, Chaos brings a more profound stagnation than anything it despises in law. It must forever seek more and more sensation, more and more empty marvels, until there is nothing left and it has forgotten what true invention is.
The Queen of the Swords (1971)
Chaos delights in creation but swiftly becomes bored with what it creates for it seeks not order or justice or constancy but sensation, entertainment. Sometimes it suits it to create something which you and I would value or find pleasure in. But it is an accident.
The King of the Swords (1971)
“And is adventure and sensation all we should seek, Meliadus?”
“Aye—why not? All is chaos, there is no meaning to existence, there is only one advantage to living one’s life and that is to discover all the sensations the human mind and body is capable of feeling.”
The Runestaff (1969)
“Thanks,” said Elric, “and what did you give in the first place for the power to summon such a demon?”
“Why, my soul, of course. But it was an old one and not of much worth. Hell could be no worse than this existence.”
Stormbringer (1965)
“Has Fate been thwarted?”
“Fate is never thwarted. What has happened has happened because Fate willed it thus—if, indeed, there is such a thing as Fate and if men’s actions are not merely a response to other men’s actions.”
Elric of Melniboné (1972)
There are subjects forbidden by good manners, it seems. As in many societies, I suppose, where the very fundamentals of their existence are the subject of the deepest taboos. What is this terror of reality, I wonder, which plagues the human spirit?
The Revenge of the Rose (1991)
What good is a martyr, Captain Bastable? A martyr shows us the power of faith. But what if that faith is misinformed? While people believe in heroes and the magic power of an individual to save them from the human condition, they will never be free.
The Steel Tsar (1981)
“The schizophrenic condition finds its most glorious expression in Hinduism,” remarked Professor Hira. “Whereas Christianity is an expression of the much less interesting paranoid frame of reference. Paranoia is rarely heroic, in the mythical sense, at least.”
The English Assassin (1972)
How the weak hate weakness.
Elric of Melniboné (1972)
All Empires fall,
All ages die,
All strife shall be in vain.
All Kings go down,
All hope must fail,
But Tanelorn remains—
Our Tanelorn remains...
Phoenix in Obsidian (1970)
I must admit, sir, that I have modified the verses a little, to allow for the new things I have learned, so I am an unreliable source of truth, sir, save in its most fundamental sense. Like a majority of poets, sir.
The Revenge of the Rose (1991)