Lord of Light

From BillionQuotes

Lord of Light (1968) is an epic science fiction/fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny. It was awarded the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and nominated for a Nebula Award in the same category.

• His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a God. But then, he never claimed not to be a god. Circumstances being what they were, neither admission could be of any benefit. Silence, though, could.
  • Chapter i
  • Opening words.

• It was in the days of the rains that their prayers went up, not from the fingering of knotted prayer cords or the spinning of prayer wheels, but from the great pray-machine in the monastery of Ratri, goddess of the Night.
  • Chapter i

• Therefore, 'fire' does not matter, 'earth' and 'air' and 'water' do not matter. 'I' do not matter. No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words.
  • Chapter i

• He played tune after forbidden tune, and the professional musicians put professional expressions of scorn upon their faces; but neneath the table several feet were tapping in slow time with the music.
  • Chapter ii

• The Buddha, looking imperturbbable, returned his attention to the drama. A monk seated nearby noticed he was tapping his fingers n the ground, and he decided that the Enlightened One must be keeping time with the drumbeats, for it was common knowledge that he was above such things as impatience.
  • Chapter iii

• "You may not have this man, oh Death," said the Master of the North, "for he belongs to the world, and we of the world will defend him."
  • Chapter iii

• "Go away. This is not a place to be. If you do try to enter here, you will fail and also be cursed. If somehow you succeed, then do not complain that you entered unwarned, nor bother us with your deathbed praters." Signed, "The Gods."
  • Chapter iv

• "You fertility deities are worse than Marxists," he said.
  • Chapter v

• Death is mighty, and is no one's friend.
  • Chapter vi

• Time like an ocean, space like its water, Sam in the middle, standing, decided.
  • Chapter vii

• Death and Light are everywhere, always, and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon the Dream of the Nameless that is the world, burning words within Samsara, perhaps to create a thing of beauty.
  • Chapter vii

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