I think that these quotes speak eloquently enough for themselves, so I'll be brief. The books certainly struck a chord with me, and all come with the highest recommendations—the DragonLance saga in particular, as well as anything by Ed Greenwood, Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, plus the other greats etc.
Last Update: June 2001, 13 quotes.
"'But you don't seek any system to justify it either,' he said. 'That's what I mean by innocence. You're guilty of killing mortals because you've been made into something that feeds on blood and death, but you're not guilty of lying, of creating great dark and evil systems of thought within yourself.'
'True.'
'To be godless is probably the first step to innocence,' he said, 'to lose the sense of sin and subordination, the false grief for things supposed to be lost.'
'So by innocence you mean not an absence of experience, but an absence of illusions.'
'An absence of the need for illusions,' he said. 'A love of and a respect for what is right before your eyes.'"
"The Vampire Lestat", Anne Rice
"I think some of it is probably contrasts. Light and shadow. If you never had the bad times, how would you know you had the good times. But some of it is just: If you're going to be human, then there are a whole load of things that come with it. Eyes, a heart, days and life. It's the moments that illuminate it, though. The times you don't see when you're having them... they make the rest of it matter."
"Death: The High Cost Of Living", Neil Gaiman
"One great lesson can be learnt from history ... and that is that people never learn from history. History becomes one great spiral, often repeating itself. People are all too often content to react for the moment, not to analyse, not to judge, not to see the way things are formed, the various processes by which a situation is arrived at. No; they are content to react, and action and reaction continue, and thus history repeats itself."
"Dracula My Love", Peter Tremayne
"What have you done, David?
"I now contain—with this new curiosity, with this flaming capacity to care once more, with reborn capacity to sing—I now contain the awful capacity to want and to love.
"For that if for nothing else, and there is indeed much more, I shall always thank you. No matter what suffering is to come, you have quickened me. And nothing you do or say will ever cause the death of my love for you."
"Pandora", Anne Rice
"There are horrors in this world," I whispered, "it is made of mystery and dependent upon mystery. If you would have peace, go back to the hives; lose your human shape, and descend again, fragmented into the midless life of the contented beees from which you rose."
He was fixed, and listened to me.
"If you would have fleshly life, human life, hard life which can move through time and space, then fight for it. If you would have human philosophy then struggle and make youself wise, so that nothing can hurt you ever. Wisdom is strength. Collect youself, whatever you are, into somthing with a purpose.
"But know this: All is speculation under the sky. All myth, all religion, all philosophy, all history—is lies."
"Pandora", Anne Rice
(Used—adroitly as ever—in "Pandora", by Anne Rice.)
"Out, out brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player
That stuts and frets his hour upon this stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
"Macbeth", William Shakespeare
"We may not have won the war," Tanis began, "but surely we have won a major battle—"
Raistlin coughed and shook his head sadly.
"Do you see no hope?"
"Hope is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain hope to reach it."
"Are you saying we should just give up?" Tanis asked, irritably tossing the bark away.
"I'm saying we should remove the carrot and walk forward with our eyes open."
"Dragons of Autumn Twilight", Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
At first it was deathly silent. Then the most horrible scream imaginable reverberated through the chamber. It was high-pitched, shrill, wailing, bubbling in agony, as the knights lunged out of their hiding places behind the tooth-like pillars and drove the silver dragonlances into the blue, writhing body of the trapped dragon.
Tas covered his ears with his hands, trying to block out the awful sound. Over and over he pictured the terrible destruction he had seen the dragons wreak on towns, the innocent people they had slaughtered. The dragon would have killed him too, he knew—killed him without mercy. It had probably already killed Sturm. He kept reminding himself of that, trying to harden his heart.
But the kender buried his head in his hands and wept.
Then he felt a gentle hand touch him.
"Tas," whispered a voice.
"Laurana!" He raised his head. "Laurana! I'm sorry. I shouldn't care what they do to the dragon, but I can't stand it, Laurana! Why must there be killing? I can't stand it!" Tears streaked his face.
"I know," Laurana murmured, vivid memories of Sturm's death mingling with the shrieks of the dying dragon. "Don't be ashamed, Tas. Be thankful you can feel pity and horror at the death of an enemy. The day we cease to care—even for our enemies—is the day we have lost this battle."
"Dragons of Winter Night", Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Storm laughed softly and kissed him. "I love it, Old Mage, when you're so forthcoming and open." She lay down again beside him. "Never change, will you? Promise me that."
"Ah lass," he said sadly. "That's one of the promises none of us can keep."
He lay there in silence until she slept, holding her hand tightly. When her slumber was deep, he waved his free hand, and a spellbook floated silently out of the night to hang above his nose. Spellfire was but one of Elminster's little secrets; another was the fact that he no longer needed to sleep.
The old, familiar symbols and phrases filled his mind again as they had so many times before, but he did not let go of Storm's hand, even for a moment. Throughout life, one does not miss any chance to hold onto the things that are really precious, if one is truly wise.
"Spellfire", Ed Greenwood
(From the dedication to "Vampire of the Mists", by Christie Golden.)
He that can smile at death, as we know him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole peoples. Oh, if such a one was to come from God, and not the Devil, what a force for good might he not be in this world of ours.
"Dracula", Bram Stoker
(Written above the gates of Hell in Dante's epic. Nor particularly philosophical, just a particularly good translation I saw in an advert for Ravenloft in Dragon magazine. If you remember it, it had some brilliant artwork with it.)
Through me you pass into the city of woe;
Through me you pass into eternal pain;
Through me among the people lost, for aye...
Before me things create were none,
Save things eternal and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
"The Divine Comedy", Dante Aligheri
(A poem about Death's gifts, from the story "The Sound of Her Wings". What I love about the Sandman Comics is the amazing depth Neil creates in his chosen medium. And of course Death, 'cos she's just lovely.)
Death is before me today:
Like the recovery of a sick man,
Like going forth into a garden after sickness
Death is before me today:
Like the odor of myrrh,
Like sitting under a sail in a good wind.
Death is before me today:
Like the course of a stream
Like the return of a man from the war-galley to his house.
Death is before me today:
Like the home that a man longs to see,
After years spent as a captive.
"Preludes and Nocturnes", Neil Gaiman
"I never claimed to be perfect, Laurana," Tanis said quietly.
The silver moon and the red had risen, neither of them full yet, but shining brightly enough for Tanis to see tears in Laurana's luminous eyes. He reached out his hands to take her in his arms, but she took a step backwards.
"You may never claim it," she said scornfully, "but you certainly enjoy allowing us to think it!"
"Dragons of Winter Night", Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman