J. Michael Straczynski Quotes

I think that we are already making steps toward mapping out the brain so we can identify the chemical patterns that create and store memory.

It was the dawn of the third age of mankind.

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.

If sacred places are spared the ravages of war... then make all places sacred. And if the holy people are to be kept harmless from war... then make all people holy.

All love is unrequited. All of it.

Avoid the tyranny of the reasonable voice...it will guarantee a complacency of never trying anything adventurous.

I am a control freak. I will admit that freely.

If a person with a bullet in Dallas can change the world, imagine a person with an idea could do.

Never follow somebody else's path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone... the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way.

Wouldn't it be much worse if life really were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us happen because we really deserve them?

Take care, don't fight, and remember: if you do not choose to lead, you will forever be led by others. Find what scares you, and do it. And you can make a difference, if you choose to do so.

The quality of our thoughts is bordered on all sides by our facility with language.

Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your side, my side, and the truth.

I grew up on comics and cartoons. So, as an adult, I like comics and cartoons.

It's been amazing to watch, because for Thor, which was always a mid-selling book, to be in the top ten for every single issue since the reboot is just a great compliment.

I've written for every medium except poetry, at which I suck.

In every other science fiction series, humans are at the top of the food chain. In the 'Babylon 5' universe, they're in the bottom third.

On the Internet, inside information is currency, and there will always be counterfeiters among us.

I don't start writing a script until I can see it all in my head, then it's a matter of getting it down in white heat.

When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth, and tell the whole world - No, you move.

Half-way through any big project, everyone forgets what they're doing.

We walk in dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass. We live for the One. We die for the One. -- the Ranger oath

The more important the emotion is, the fewer words required to express it: Will you go out with me? I think I like you. I care for you. I love you. Marry me. Goodbye.

Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one.

NEVER SURRENDER DREAMS If we are to be who we are; if we are to accomplish great things; then we must learn the heart's most essential rule: NEVER SURRENDER DREAMS

As an atheist, I believe that all life is unspeakably precious, because it’s only here for a brief moment, a flare against the dark, and then it’s gone forever.

There are people in life, who show you how to live. There are people in life, who show you how to die.

Greatness is never appreciated in youth, called pride in midlife, dismissed in old age, and reconsidered in death. Because we cannot tolerate greatness in our midst, we do all we can do destroy it.

I've made a decision and now I must face the consequences.

There's a lot of comics writers out there whose work I appreciate and who are nice guys. I really want to work with guys I really respect and enjoy.

It is not for the gods to decide whether or not Man exists - it is for Man to decide whether or not the gods exist.

A good story should provoke discussion, debate, argument...and the occasional bar fight.

Growing up as a kid, we moved all over the country on a fairly frequent basis, from New Jersey to Texas, California, Illinois... we moved 21 times in my first 17 years.

The American Way is an amalgam of our compassion, our strengths, our failings and our attempts to build a better world, a more perfect union.

Whenever you can bring your chops in as a reporter to unearth a cool story, that's always a good thing.

All you can do is focus on telling the best story you can with compelling characters. If you do it right, it will endure. If you do it wrong, it won't.

I sometimes find reality far more fantastical and unlikely than what I could just make up.

I was very clear that I wanted to keep 'Thor' out of the rest of the Marvel universe for no less than the first six issues. And the success of the book, I think, speaks well to that decision.

Writing is the process of asking the next logical question.

To me, science fiction is about the sense of mystery, the sense of awe. Not 'shock and awe', just 'awe.'

There's a rule of writing: if everything is funny, nothing is funny; if everything is sad, nothing is sad. You want that contrast.

Stage-persona notwithstanding, I'm extremely shy and quiet. Almost painfully shy. People misinterpret that as being above it all or not interested.

My philosophy: find what it is you want to say, walk in the room, say it, and get the hell out.

You can only have one voice on set, and that has to be the director.

I think for any writer, creating and controlling your own property is the ultimate dream.

I'm all for crossovers if they benefit the individual books.

When you walk into a movie theater, you don't walk out half-way through, and then come back the next day to watch the rest of it.

I've worked on high visibility shows that weren't always the best, and low visibility shows that I love but that didn't have the PR behind them.

A lot of television tends to assume that audiences don't have the attention span or the IQ to follow a lot of stuff.

People in a cluster are bound to each other automatically, and can see each other automatically.