Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellisonis an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth27 May 1934
CityCleveland, OH
CountryUnited States of America
world imbeciles
The world is turning into a cesspool of imbeciles.
men harlequin said
Repent, Harlequin," said the Ticktock Man. "Get stuffed," the Harlequin replied.
writing past rhythm
I'm nothing. Nothing at all without writing. Without truth, my truth, the only truth I know, it's all a gambol in the pasture without rhythm or sense.
writing soul trying
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.
art night thinking
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.
perfection excellence locks
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.
writing doe warfare
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.
stupid people these-days
In these days of widespread illiteracy, functional illiteracy... anything that keeps people stupid is a felony.
dream worthy ifs
You can live in your dreams, but only if you are worthy of them.
jobs writing years
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.
looks argument microphones
Don't start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don't. They'll make you look like chopped liver.
self-esteem typewriters deep-breathing
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.
writing holy millionaire
You're a writer. And that's something better than being a millionaire. Because it's something holy.
sex sex-and-love
Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled.