I'm real tall when I stand on my charisma. by Harlan Ellison

I'm real tall when I stand on my charisma.

Harlan Ellison

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Categorized in : Stand Real Charisma Tall

The ability to dream is all I have to give. That is my responsibility; that is my burden. And even I grow tired.

tired responsibility dream

Y is for YGGDRASIL. The legendary Nordic ash tree with its three roots extending into the lands of mortals, giants, and Niflheim, the land of mist, grows in Wisconsin. Legend has it that when the tree falls, the universe will fall. Next Wednesday, the State Highway Commission comes through that empty pasture with a freeway.

land roots fall

When you're all alone out there, on the end of the typewriter, with each new story a new appraisal by the world of whether you can still get it up or not, arrogance and self-esteem and deep breathing are all you have. It often looks like egomania. I assure you it's the bold coverup of the absolutely terrified.

deep-breathing typewriters self-esteem

Don't start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don't. They'll make you look like chopped liver.

microphones argument looks

Everybody has a talent, whether it's scrapbooking, or kite-flying, or brain surgery, or writing, everybody has a talent. And if they discover it, and they turn it to their purposes and make a living out of it, then they become not "that person," but they become "that writer" or "that doctor" or "that supervisor."

doctors flying writing

What I try to write about are the darkest things in the soul, the mortal dreads... The closer I get to the burning core of my being, the things which are most painful to me, the better is my work.

soul writing trying

Repent, Harlequin," said the Ticktock Man. "Get stuffed," the Har... by Harlan Ellison

Repent, Harlequin," said the Ticktock Man. "Get stuffed," the Harlequin replied.

harlequin said men

I refuse to write the same story twice. I keep experimenting. I keep learning how to work. I've been at it pretty much 50 years, and I'm now beginning to learn how to do the job well.

writing jobs years

In my ugly, elitist opinion we are not all entitled to voice our opinions, we are entitled to pass along our informed opinions.

ugly opinion voice

If you let the image of the messenger get in the way of whatever message there may be, however large or small, that's your problem, not his.

messengers may way

Perfection. Excellence. What a passionate lover. But once having tasted the lips of excellence, once having given oneself to its perfection, how dreary and burdensome and filled with anomie are the remainder of one's waking hours trapped in the shackled lock-step of the merely ordinary, the barely acceptable, the just okay and not a stroke better.

waking excellence perfection

I have but nothing to say to young girls. They're fine to look at, in the way I would look at a case filled with Shang dynasty glazes, but expecting to carry on a conversation with the average teen-aged young lady is akin to reading Voltaire to a cage filled with chimpanzees. I'm certain they would feel the same alienation for me. I can live with that knowledge.

women girl reading

Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled. by Harlan Ellison

Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled.

funny-love love sex

I will live to piss in the open mouths or the open graves of my e... by Harlan Ellison

I will live to piss in the open mouths or the open graves of my enemies, whichever comes first.

mouths enemy firsts

When you're a writer, you have to have the passion and the skill and the craft. It's not just enough to have the passion. You've gotta have all three.

passion three skills

I made as many mistakes as anybody else. I sound as if I'm an egomaniac, and I suppose in some ways I'm filled with hubris because I know how good I am at certain things. But other things, I can't do at all. I can't draw.

sound mistake way

Anyone who can not write should. by Harlan Ellison

Anyone who can not write should.

editors editing writing

I have no mouth. And I must scream. by Harlan Ellison

I have no mouth. And I must scream.

scream computer mouths

Because the chief commodity a writer has to sell is his courage. And if he has none, he is more than a coward. He is a sellout and a fink and a heretic, because writing is a holy chore.

commodity coward writing

To say more, is to say less. by Harlan Ellison

To say more, is to say less.