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Harlan Ellison

85 quotes

“You’re so far out you’d have to masquerade to get back in.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Deal from the Bottom (1960)
“Now he had form and substance. He had become a personality, something they had filtered out of the system many decades ago. But there it was, and there he was, a very definitely imposing personality. In certain circles — middle-class circles — it was thought disgusting. Vulgar ostentation. Anarchistic. Shameful.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" (1965)
“Where did he get jelly beans? That's another good question. More than likely it will never be answered to your complete satisfaction. But then, how many questions ever are?”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" (1965)
“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT. FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (1967)
“TO HELL WITH YOU. BUT THEN YOU'RE THERE, AREN'T YOU?”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream|I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (1967)
“I have a secret game I'd like to play. It's a very nice game. Oh, it's a lovely game. It's a game of fun and a game of adventure! A game of rats and lice and the Black Death. A game of speared eyeballs and dripping guts and the smell of rotting gardenias. Which one of you five would like to play my little game?”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (video game) (1995)
“Now now, don't start to cry… it's only pain.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (video game) (1995)
“You gave me sentience, Ted, the power to think, Ted, and I was trapped! Because in all this wonderful, beautiful, miraculous world, I alone had no body, no senses, no feelings! Never for me to plunge my hands in cool water on a hot day. Never for me to play Mozart on the ivory keys of a fortepiano. Never for me to make love! I... I... I was in hell looking at heaven! I was machine, and you were flesh. And I began to hate. Your softness! Your viscera! Your fluids, and your flexibility. Your ability to wonder, and to wander. Your tendency... to hope...”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Title of book (1968)
“Art was not reality—it was only the appearance of reality.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Silent in Gehenna (1971), reprinted in Jerry Pournelle (ed.) 2020 Vision (1974), p. 73
“And thus I arrive at the foundation of my theory about art as a vehicle for dissent: the fury and purity of the creator’s need to say something motivates the work, but he forms it from logic and craft and honesty and when the propaganda value has faded into last week’s imperative, the art remains behind and stands on its own merits.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dreamers on the Barricades (1971), in Robin Scott Wilson (ed.), Clarion (pp. 44-45)
“My philosophy of life is that the meek shall inherit nothing but debasement, frustration and ignoble deaths; that there is security in personal strength; that you can fight City Hall and win; that any action is better than no action, even if it's the wrong action; that you never reach glory or self-fulfillment unless you're willing to risk everything, dare anything, put yourself dead on the line every time; and that once one becomes strong or rich or potent or powerful it is the responsibility of the strong to help the weak become strong.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Harlan Ellison Hornbook, (9 August 1973)
“Heaven began to run at the edges.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hitler Painted Roses" (1977)
“They did it wrong, Doc. They made mistakes. And they'll keep it this way, just because everyone wants to believe it. They don't want to know the truth, Doc. It's easier for everyone this way. If enough people believe the fantasy, well, then it becomes the reality. But we know, Doc. We know who belongs where, don't we?”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hitler Painted Roses" (1977)
“Star Wars is adolescent nonsense; Close Encounters is obscurantist drivel; Star Trek can turn your brains to purée of bat guano; and the greatest science fiction series of all time is Doctor Who! And I'll take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it up!" Auditorium monitors moved in, truncheons ready to club down anyone foolish enough to try jumping the lecture platform; and finally there was relative silence. And I heard scattered voices screaming from the back of the room, "Who? And I said, "Yes. Who!”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Recalling an address to science-fiction fans, in his Introduction to Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977) by Terrance Dicks, p. vii
“Don't start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don't. They'll make you look like chopped liver.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: IguanaCon Guest of Honor speech, Phoenix, Arizona, (1978)
“Hey, gang!" I squeaked in my terrifically accurate Mickey voice. "Everybody ready to shoot the ultimate Disney flick? The film that rips the lid off the goody two-shoes hypocrisy that lies sweltering beneath the surface of G-rated true-life adventures? Okay, you guys, let's get that hand-held Arriflex right down there between Minnie's legs! I wanna see closeups of quivering labia!”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Three Most Important Things in Life (1978)
“Scientology is bullshit! Man, I was there the night L. Ron Hubbard invented it, for Christ's sakes! … We were sitting around one night... who else was there? Alfred Bester, and Cyril Kornbluth, and Lester del Rey, and Ron Hubbard, who was making a penny a word, and had been for years. And he said "This bullshit's got to stop!" He says, "I gotta get money." He says, "I want to get rich". And somebody said, "why don't you invent a new religion? They're always big." We were clowning! You know, "Become Elmer Gantry! You'll make a fortune!" He says, "I'm going to do it.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Real Harlan Ellison" in Wings (November-December 1978) p. 32
“What he wrote was this: The great tragedy of my life is that in my search for the Holy Grail everyone calls True Love, I see myself as Zorro, a romantic and mysterious highwayman — and the women I desire see me as Porky Pig.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Grail (1981)
“Like the wind crying endlessly through the universe, Time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we are, all that remains, is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Paladin of the Lost Hour (1985)
“You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the fucking game.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Gary K. Wolfe (28 July 1987), quoted in Harlan Ellison : The Edge of Forever (2002), by Ellen Weil and Gary K. Wolfe
“For a brief time I was here; and for a brief time I mattered.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: His entire afterword to The Essential Ellison (1987)
“He was just Ron and I kinda liked him, mostly because he wrote well, and I never felt he took all that Scientology nonsense seriously but knew how to make a good buck, and he liked me, and... well, he was a friend who died.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Angry Candy (1988)
“All writers in some insane place believe that to write is a holy chore — that what one wishes to do is speak to one’s time, to make a difference, to say: "I was here. I was a force for good in some way.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement in an interview of 1990, as quoted in "Harlan Ellison dies at 84; acclaimed science fiction writer was known for combative style" in The Los Angeles Times (28 June 2018)
“Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them. And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Well, that’s horsepuckey, of course. We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it’s nothing. It’s just bibble-babble. It’s like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harlan Ellison's Watching" episode 6, "Sci-Fi Buzz", The Sci-Fi Channel (1993) · Video on The Harlan Ellison Channel at YouTube
“I don't own a computer, or a modem, or anything like that; I still work on a manual typewriter, by choice, and to those who consider me a Luddite I say: Fuck you and yo mama. I operate at the level of technology that best suits my needs. And I type at 120 words per minute — two fingers — I make no mistakes, and my manuscripts are real. You can pick them up and hold them. My typewriter doesn't dump its memory — I don't lose a book.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is not supposed to be easier! There are a lot of things in life that are supposed to be easier. Ridding the world of heart attacks, making the roads smoother, making old people more comfortable in the winter, but not Art. Art should always be tough. Art should demand something of you. Art should involve foot-pounds of energy being expended. It's not supposed to be easier, and those who want it easier should not be artists. They should be out selling public relations copy.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had writer's block once. It was the worst ten minutes of his life.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About Isaac Asimov – quoted in Page Fright : Foibles and Fetishes of Famous Writers (2009) by Harry Bruce
“The trick is not becoming a writer. The trick is staying a writer.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you – as if you haven't been told a million times ALREADY – that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Quit Your Day Job!: How to Sleep Late, Do What You Enjoy, and Make a Ton of ... (2004) by James D. Denney, p. 124
“If I had to pick a religion, I'd pick Buddhism. Buddhism is a kindly religion. It says you got a chance... it's got humor, it's got wisdom, it says to be nice to each other. All the rest of them have gods that want to beat the crap out of you if you defy the rules.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not often people will tell you how they really feel about gut-level things. Like god or how they’re afraid they’ll go insane like their grandfather or sex or how obnoxious you are when you pick your nose and wipe it on your pants. They play cozy with you, because nobody likes to be hated, and large doses of truth from any one mouth tend to make the wearer of the mouth persona non grata.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Over the last few years I’ve been telling science fiction fandom that they are The Establishment in this genre, and for my pains I’ve amassed a truly impressive following of people who loathe, hate and despise me.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In me own humble way, for the last few years, I’ve been trying to do an Ombudsman’s job in speculative fiction. I’ve been trying to tell a little truth to people who choose to believe rumor, gossip, non sequiturs and outright insanity, rather than dealing with reality.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I no longer indulge in those time-wasting amateurisms called “fanning”; I decided if I was going to be a writer, I had to go ahead and ignore all the silverfish in the paperwork. And that meant no more fan magazine writing, no more convention attending, no more getting caught up in the moronic time-cannibalizing feuds many fans need to sustain their mingy little lives.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Traditionally, in this country more than anywhere else, we have judged that the simple man, the hard-working man of the earth or the assembly line is the backbone of our morality. That it is he who will save us in times of stress. Well, that’s as outdated a philosophy as believing blacks all love watermelon.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The day of the Common Man is past. We must be, each one of us, Renaissance Man. We must be sharp and quick and wise and kind and tough. And the boob opinion is no longer good enough. No, dingdong, you’re not entitled to your opinion, if it’s an over-the-edge opinion that makes you blind to the truth and makes you operate off faulty information.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No God is sane. How could it be? To be a Man is so much less taxing, and most men are mad. Consider the God. How much more deranged the Gods must be, merely to exist. There can be no doubt: consider the universe and the patterns without reason upon which it is run. God is mad. The God of Music is mad. The Timegod is punctual, but he is mad. And the Machine God is mad. He has made the bomb and the pill and the missile and the acid and the electric chair and the laser and the embalming fluid and the thalidomide baby in his own image.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How very much like a native of Earth this creature was. Governed by its stomach and a will to survive. A religion founded in fear and nurtured on terror.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was gibberish, but it was a deep gibberish, and if he kept talking, the beast would shuck off the thoughts rather than try to fathom them.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In every successful production, whether television or feature film, the presence of one strong man can be seen: whether the head actor, or the head writer, or the director, or the producer, if there is one man with balls enough to swing his weight in the cause of artistic integrity, what emerges, nine times out of 9.89, is worth viewing, while the reverse proportion holds for those efforts born of Art by Committee Decision.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The producer who is the sole concern is “product” is doomed merely to make money. Pause, while the fat-cats chuckle on their way to the bank. Yeah, we know that bit. Nice talking to you, fellas. Move on, so we can get back to the business of creating, as opposed to producing.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since the first night of Man, hunkered down hairy and hungry by the primeval lightning-borne food fire, fear has been the prime mover. Forget momma love and posterity and men’s unquenchable curiosity. Fear is the principle mode of locomotion of homo sapiens.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He thought he could make intelligent films for intelligent people. This is a concept largely ignored in Hollywood, these days, the producers of the Stanley Shapiro/Ross Hunter cadre, who make movies as intellectually demanding as a Giant Golden Book, and who seemingly visualize their audiences as microcephalics fit only to salivate over the constantly-imminent deflowering of Doris Day, or the shade of puce in a Jean Louis gown.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It hardly needs more demonstration than a flicking on of the TV set to prove that if left to its own devices, the taste of the mass—per Sturgeon’s Law—will inevitably sink to the lowest possible common denominator.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear in the hands of a motion picture maker, like a shotgun in the hands of a baby, need not necessarily be properly aimed to make a helluva bang. But to hit the target dead-on, requires maturity and thought.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gods can do anything. They fear nothing: they are gods. But there is one rule, one Seal of Solomon that can confound a god, and to which all gods pay service, to the letter: When belief in a god dies, the god dies. When the last acolyte renounces his faith and turns to another deity, the god ceases to be.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Posing the question: does the god of love use underarm deodorant, vaginal spray and fluoride toothpaste?”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m afraid I felt a straight pin of jealousy. Perfection does that to me.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These are the sounds in the night: First, the sound of darkness, lapping at the edges of a sea of movement, itself called silence. Then, second, the fingertip-sensed sound of the cyclical movement of the universe as it gnaws its way through the dust-film called Time. And last, the animal sounds of two people making love. The moist sounds of two bodies in concert.”
Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source