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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.

Harlan Ellison

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Harlan Ellison
Age: 84 †
Born: 1934
Born: May 27
Died: 2018
Died: June 27
Film Critic
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Cleveland
Ohio
Harlan Jay Ellison
Work
Burning
Things
Core
Painful
Dreads
Write
Darkest
Soul
Mortal
Better
Dread
Writing
Mortals
Trying
Closer

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I will use big words from time to time, the meanings of which I may only vaguely perceive, in hopes such cupidity will send you scampering to your dictionary: I will call such behavior 'public service'.
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People don't die from the old diseases any more. They die from new ones, but that's Progress, isn't it? Isn't it?
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Repent, Harlequin, said the Ticktock Man. Get stuffed, the Harlequin replied.
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The trap into which all writers have, will, or should fall into, of writing The Great American Watchamacallit, is such an uncluttered and inviting one that from time to time I'm sure even the greatest have to pull themselves up short by the Shift key to remind themselves that it is story first that they should write.
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I usually say I write for the smartest, cleverest, wittiest audience I know, and that's me.
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Writing is a holy chore.
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Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning the end will take care of itself.
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The real name for 'science' is magic.
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You must never be afraid to go there.
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I think [religion] is presumptuous and I think it is silly, because it makes you believe that you are less than what you can be. As long as you can blame everything on some unseen deity, you don’t ever have to be responsible for your own behavior.
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And we passed through the cavern of rats. And we passed through the path of boiling steam. And we passed through the country of the blind. And we passed through the slough of despond. And we passed through the vale of tears. And we came, finally, to the ice caverns.
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I have no mouth. And I must scream.
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be careful of monsters with teeth
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My philosophy of life is that the meek shall inherit nothing but debasement, frustration, and ignoble deaths.
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That's probably one of my biggest gripes with the Internet - that it settles for mediocrity and disinformation, which puts all information on the same level. Everything has the same value, whether it's Albert Einstein speaking, or yoohoo27@msn.com.
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I can't picture in my mind three hundred and sixty thousand dollars... When I think of it, all I can see in my mind is a big nickel.
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I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid.
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I will live to piss in the open mouths or the open graves of my enemies, whichever comes first.
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For the first time we have a weapon that nobody has used for thirty years. This gives me great hope for the human race.
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There in the midst of the Amazon Jungle, Simon Haskell has cobbled up for himself a replica of an Art Deco salon.
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