The Chronicles of Amber

"It was a pain in the ass waiting around for someone to try to kill you. But it was April 30, and of course it would happen as it always did."

"“There’s nothing to any of it,” he said. “There are an infinite number of ways of lying to yourself, into rationalizing things into something they are not. I guess that I wanted magic, and there is no real magic in the world.”"

"“Power is like money,” I said. “You can usually get it if you’re competent and it’s the only thing you want in life.”"

"“I’m talking about the meaning of life. You know that.” I shook my head. “Only a fool believes that life has but one meaning,” I said."

"Why couldn’t you want a divorce like any sensible young man?"

"When inspiration is silent reason tires quickly."

"She pouted slightly for a moment, then released my arm. “Now you know what an absolute monarchy is,” she explained to Bill. “You can see how power corrupts.” “I was corrupt before I had power,” Random said, “and rich is better.”"

"I shook out my cloak and brushed myself off. I traveled for perhaps half an hour then, leaving the place far behind me, before I halted and took my breakfast in a hot, bleak valley smelling faintly of sulfur. As I was finishing, I heard a crashing noise. A horned and tusked purple thing went racing along the ridge to my right pursued by a hairless orange-skinned creature with long claws and a forked tail. Both were wailing in different keys. I nodded. It was just one damned thing after another."

"“Time,” he said. “There’s always either too much time or not enough.”"

"Life is full of doors that don’t open when you knock, equally spaced amid those that open when you don’t want them to."

"Changing from something nominally human to something rare and strange—perhaps monstrous to some, perhaps frightening—and then back again is a concept some may find repugnant. They shouldn’t. We all of us do it every day in many different ways, don’t we?"

"We never used to word “love,” though it must have run through her mind on occasion, as it did through mine. It was, I suppose, that I didn’t love her enough to trust her, and then it was too late."

"And what did she offer in its place? Airy nothings and classified motives... Which could well mean she was telling the truth. Disdaining the use of a workable lie and offering something more cumbersome in its place would seem the mark of genuine honesty."

"She dismounted and let her horse nibble a few blades of grass. I did the same. Dismounted, that is."

"I do not like being manipulated or coerced. My reflexive attempt to do something other than what is desired of me then feels forced also."

"I had a feeling that I already had the answer but that I would be unable to realize it until I had formulated the proper question."

"You wish perhaps to discuss the philosophy of revenge with me now?"

"This was my father’s tomb—well, cenotaph—built long ago when he had been presumed dead. It had amused him considerably to be able to visit the place later on. Now, of course, its status might well have changed. It could be the real thing now. Would this cancel the irony or increase it?"

"As I straightened my legs and strained upward with even greater exertion, I wondered how many people fail in robust undertakings because of sudden lower back problems. I guess they’re the ones you don’t hear about."

"So, “What do you want, anyway?” I called out. Immediately, that metallic voice replied, “Your blood, your soul, your mind and your body.” “What about my stamp collection,” I hollered back. “Do I get to keep the First Day Covers?”"

"“Another relative coming to visit,” Random said. “Why couldn’t have been an only child?”"

"If you had a choice between the ability to detect falsehood and the ability to discover truth, which one would you take?"

"We will learn whatever we can, of course. Power is power, and represents a threat until it is understood."

"Would she really behave as Luke said, though? It made a sort of sense, but then people seldom keep company with rationality at times when they should."

"“It’s kind of you to want to do me a favor,” I said, “but at times such as this, one must be excused for checking the price tag.”"

"“It means nothing to be able to transport yourself anywhere,” I heard her say, “if you are a fool in all places.”"

"“Do you know something I don’t?” I asked. “Many things,” she replied."

"“You don’t trust anybody, do you?” “Family tradition,” I replied, “backed up by recent experience.”"

"That’s life: Trust and you’re betrayed; don’t trust and you betray yourself. Like most moral paradoxes, it places you in an untenable position. And it was too late for my normal solution. I couldn’t walk away from the game."

"No one likes to be a butt of the universe’s jokes."

"“You can make me play,” I said, “but you cannot make me choose. My will is my own.”"

"“I guess I have peculiar feelings about little things—like the value of life.” “Indignation is cheap. Even Albert Schweitzer’s reverence for life didn’t include the tapeworm, the tsetse fly, the cancer cell.”"

"I held out my hand, and he shook his head. “Let’s not get carried away,” he told me. “If my word’s no good without a handshake, it’s no good with one, is it?”"

"“Why does there always have to be a reason?” he said. “The alternative is irrationality,” I replied."

"The doorway to the left—the one that let upon my bedroom—seemed to be outlined in red and pulsing. Did that mean I was supposed to avoid it or rush in there? That’s the trouble with mystical advice."

"The biggest bar to understanding is the interpretation they put on each other’s doings."

"See one coronation and you’ve seen them all. Sounds cynical and probably is, especially when the principal is your best friend and his queen’s your inadvertent lover."

"Every time I complained about politics, here, in Amber, back in the States on the Shadow Earth, there was the automatic corollary of considering the way I’d manage situations if I were in charge."

"A crown does not automatically make a person daggerproof."

"“What brought all this on?” ”The higher order edition of the Pattern I encountered in the Jewel, actually. There were aspects of it I simply could not understand. This led to considerations of chaos theory, then to Menninger and all the others for its manifestations in consciousness.” “Any conclusions?” “I am wiser therefor.” “I mean, concerning the Pattern.” “Yes. Either it possesses a certain element of irrationality itself, like living things, or it is an intelligence of such an order that some of its processes only seem irrational to lesser beings. Either explanation amounts to the same thing from a practical standpoint.”"

"Sometimes you hear an unlikely thing and that’s all it is. Other times, you hear something improbable and it strikes an echo."

"“Do you think she’s up to something?” “Probably,” he said. “I can’t recall a time when she hasn’t been.”"

"I no longer felt my body. Time was an alien concept. The striving was no longer striving, but a form of elemental movement now, beside which glaciers rushed."

"No matter what you are and no matter what’s been done to you, there will have to be some element of choice for you, sooner or later. You are greater than the sum of your parts, Merlin. No matter what went into your birth and your life up to now, you’ve got eyes and a brain and a set of values. Don’t let anybody bullshit you, not even me. And when the time comes, if it comes, make damn sure the choice is your own. Nothing that’s gone before will matter then."

"I don’t know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something—or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it’s just an ego trip."

"Things that had tantalized me for much of my adult life seemed near to explanation now. I was not happy with all of the possibilities that tumbled through my mind. Still, no matter which ones came out on top, it would beat ignorance."

"Irony, as usual, a three-to-one favorite whenever sentimentality makes its move."

"Don’t wake me for the end of the world unless it has very good special effects."

"“Riddles,” I said. “Always preferable to no answer at all,” he responded."