"There's no such thing as civilization. The word just means the art of living in cities."
— Roger Zelazny (The Great Book of Amber)

"Nobody steals books but your friends."
— Roger Zelazny (The Guns of Avalon)

"For you see, the headwaters of Shit Creek are a cruel and treacherous expanse."
— Roger Zelazny

"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

"The day of battle dawned pink as the fresh-bitten thigh of a maiden."
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)

"A totally nondenominational prayer: Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that I be forgiven for anything I may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness.  Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which I may be eligible after the destruction of my body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen."
— Roger Zelazny (Creatures of Light and Darkness)

"Don't wake me for the end of the world unless it has very good special effects."
— Roger Zelazny

"Occasionally, there arises a writing situation where you see an alternative to what you are doing, a mad, wild gamble of a way for handling something, which may leave you looking stupid, ridiculous or brilliant -you just don't know which. You can play it safe there, too, and proceed along the route you'd mapped out for yourself. Or you can trust your personal demon who delivered that crazy idea in the first place.
Trust your demon."
— Roger Zelazny

"Hello and farewell, as always"
— Roger Zelazny (The Courts of Chaos)

"No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words."
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)

"I'm a lost soul. We do wail."
— Roger Zelazny (Jack of Shadows)

"Occasionally, there arises a writing situation where you see an alternative to what you are doing, a mad, wild gamble of a way for handling something, which may leave you looking stupid, ridiculous or brilliant -you just don't know which. You can play it safe there, too, and proceed along the route you'd mapped out for yourself. Or you can trust your personal demon who delivered that crazy idea in the first place.
Trust your demon."
— Roger Zelazny

"Time passed slowly, like and old man climbing a hill."
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)

"Death is the only god who comes when you call."
— Roger Zelazny

"'Once a Buddha, always a Buddha, Sam. Dust off some of your old parables. You have about fifteen minutes.'

Sam held out his hand. "Give me some tobacco and a paper.""
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)

"Love is a negative form of hatred."
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"The death of an illusion tends to disconcert."
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"There's really nothing quite like someone's wanting you dead to make you want to go on living."
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"Goodbye and hello, as always."
— Roger Zelazny (The Courts of Chaos)

"Why could you not have left me as I was, in the sea of being?"

"Because the world has need of your humility, your piety, your great teaching and your Machiavellian scheming."
— Roger Zelazny

"The columns of mounted men moved forward, passed out through the gates of the Palace of Karma, turned off the roadway and headed up the slope that lay to the southeast of the city of Mahartha, comrades blazing like the dawn at their back."
— Roger Zelazny (Lord of Light)

"...And call me Conrad!"
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"'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.'"
— Roger Zelazny (The Great Book of Amber)

"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."
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"P.S. I still dunno if it's art. Go to Hell yourself. "
— Roger Zelazny (This Immortal)

"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."
— Roger Zelazny (The Guns of Avalon)

"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 (Nine Princes in Amber)

""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."
— Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)

"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."
— Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)

"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."
— Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)

"You leap too quickly to his defense. It reveals his true attitude, of which he has doubtless made you aware."
— Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)

""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!""
— Roger Zelazny (Nine Princes in Amber)