I'm not nearly as significant as Ralph Nader or the local plumber. Harlan Ellison More Quotes by Harlan Ellison More Quotes From Harlan Ellison I hate being wrong, but I love it when I'm set straight. Harlan Ellison being-wronglove-hatehate There is no nobler chore in the craft of writing than holding up the mirror of reality and turning it slightly, so we have a new and different perception of the commonplace, the everyday, the 'normal,' the obvious. People are reflected in the glass. The fantasy situation into which you thrust them is the mirror itself. And what we are shown should illuminate and alter our perception of the world around us. Failing that, you have failed totally. Harlan Ellison glasseswritingreality I think art must be tough! I think art has to be hard. I don't think it should be easy. I think it should take foot-pounds of energy to produce that art, otherwise we would have more mediocre writers, and we don't have room for any more mediocrity in the world. There's already enough of it being visited on us night and day through the Internet, and through television, and through politics. Harlan Ellison nightartthinking K is for "Kenghis Khan"; He was a very nice person. History has no record of him. There is a moral in that, somewhere. Harlan Ellison nicecivilizationhistory Entertain, yes. That goes without saying. But a good writer does that automatically, it's built into the machine. Telling a thumpingly good, mesmerizing story is what one does without question. But beyond that, any writer worth his/her hire knows that all writing, one way or another, is subversive. It is guerrilla warfare against the status quo. Harlan Ellison doewritingway The real story of our times is seldom told in the horse-puckey-filled memoirs of dopey, self-serving presidents or generals, but in the outrageous, demented lives of guys like Lenny Bruce, Giordano Bruno, Scott Fitzgerald - and Paul Krassner. The burrs under society's saddle. The pains in the ass. Harlan Ellison horsepainreal In these days of widespread illiteracy, functional illiteracy... anything that keeps people stupid is a felony. Harlan Ellison these-daysstupidpeople You're a writer. And that's something better than being a millionaire. Because it's something holy. Harlan Ellison millionaireholywriting My philosophy of life is that the meek shall inherit nothing but debasement, frustration, and ignoble deaths. Harlan Ellison frustrationlife-isphilosophy They minute people fall in love they become liars. Harlan Ellison falling-in-loveliarspeople The trick is not becoming a writer. The trick is staying a writer. Harlan Ellison tricksbecomingwriting 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 writingbookworld A man may truly live in his dreams, his noblest dreams, but only, only if he is worthy of those dreams. Harlan Ellison your-dreamsworthydream I see all. I hear all. I know all. And I spend a great deal of time in the bathroom. Harlan Ellison insanehumorousprofound The passion for revenge should never blind you to the pragmatics of the situation. There are some people who are so blighted by their past, so warped by experience and the pull of that silken cord, that they never free themselves of the shadows that live in the time machine... And if there is a kind thought due them, it may be found contained in the words of the late Gerald Kersh, who wrote:"... there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armour, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment. Harlan Ellison passionhaterevenge Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself. Harlan Ellison careendslife 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 layersmileshate I think love and sex are separate and only vaguely similar. Like the word bear and the word bare. You can get in trouble mistaking one for the other. Harlan Ellison bearssexthinking I've only been an asshole to assholes! Harlan Ellison I usually say I write for the smartest, cleverest, wittiest audience I know, and that's me. Harlan Ellison audienceknowswriting
