Robert W. Chambers > Quotes

“Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind.”
― Robert Chambers

“Strange is the night where black stars rise,
and strange moons circle through the skies,
but stranger still is
lost Carcosa.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with its beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now trembles before the King In Yellow.”
― Robert W Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.

Stranger: Indeed?

Cassilda: Indeed it’s time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.

Stranger: I wear no mask.

Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

-- The King in Yellow, Act I, Scene 2.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“Ah," she said, "to come is easy and takes hours; to go is different—and may take centuries.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“for I knew that the King in Yellow had opened his tattered mantle and there was only God to cry to now.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“Have you seen The Yellow Sign?”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“The Clown turned his powdered face to the mirror.
"If to be fair is to be beautiful," he said, "who can compare with me in my white mask?"
"Who can compare with him in his white mask?" I asked Death beside me.
"Who can compare with me?" said Death, "for I am paler still."
"You are very beautiful," sighed the Clown, turning his powdered face from the mirror.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa ”
― Robert W. Chambers

“There a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“No, he is not vicious, nor is he in the least demented. His mind is a wonder chamber, from which he can extract treasures that you and I would give years of our life to acquire.”
― Robert W Chambers, The Yellow King: The Complete Collection

“Come and see my rose-coloured bath full of death!”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts,”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“Where the slanting forest eaves,
Shingled tight with greenest leaves,
Sweep the scented meadow-sedge,
Let us snoop along the edge;
Let us pry in hidden nooks,
Laden with our nature books,
Scaring birds with happy cries,
Chloroforming butterflies,
Rooting up each woodland plant,
Pinning beetle, fly, and ant,
So we may identify
What we've ruined, by-and-by.”
― Robert W. Chambers, In Search of the Unknown

“Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“Let the red dawn surmise What we shall do, When this blue starlight dies And all is through.”

(The Yellow Sign)”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“I saw the lake of Hali, thin and blank, without a ripple or wind to stir it, and I saw the towers of Carcosa behind the moon. Aldebaran, the Hyades, Alar, Hastur, glided through the cloud-rifts which fluttered and flapped as they passed like the scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“It is well known how the book spread like an infectious disease, from city to city, from continent to continent, barred out here, confiscated there, denounced by press and pulpit, censured even by the most advanced of literary anarchists. No definite principles had been violated in those wicked pages, no doctrine promulgated, no convictions outraged. It could not be judged by any known standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in "The King in Yellow," all felt that human nature could not bear the strain nor thrive on words in which the essence of purest poison lurked. The very banality and innocence of the first act only allowed the blow to fall afterwards with more awful effect.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The Yellow Sign and Other Stories

“THERE are so many things which are impossible to explain! Why should certain chords in music make me think of the brown and golden tints of autumn foliage? Why should the Mass of Sainte-Cécile send my thoughts wandering among caverns whose walls blaze with ragged masses of virgin silver? What was it in the roar and turmoil of Broadway at six o'clock that flashed before my eyes the picture of a still Breton forest where sunlight filtered through spring foliage, and Sylvia bent, half curiously, half tenderly, over a small, green lizard, murmuring, "To think that this also is a little ward of God?”
― Robert William Chambers, The King in Yellow

“The mask of self-deception was not longer a mask for me, it was a part of me. Night lifted it, laying bare the stifled truth below; but there was no one to see except myself, and when day broke the mask fell back again of its own accord.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“The people faded away, the arches, the vaulted roof vanished. I raised my seared eyes to the fathomless glare; and I saw the black stars hanging in the heavens: and the wet winds from the Lake of Hali chilled my face.

("In The Court of the Dragon")”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“The laws prohibiting suicide and providing punishment for any attempt at self-destruction have been repealed. The Government has seen fit to acknowledge the right of man to end an existence which may have become intolerable to him, through physical suffering or mental despair.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts," said Mr. Wilde. "You are speaking of the King in Yellow," I groaned, with a shudder. "He is a king whom emperors have served." "I am content to serve him," I replied.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

“He is a king whom emperors have served.”
― Robert W. Chambers

“I had never yet done such a thing in life, but now I felt a desire to mock.

("In The Court Of The Dragon")”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories

“There a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life. If death is welcome let him seek it there.”
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow