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Writing Quotes by Rod Serling

41 Writing quotes by Rod Serling

All Writing quotes Rod Serling’s page

Writing is presented as a super‑human task, not a routine like brushing teeth. Solitude, both physical and mental, is called a basic requirement. Dictating for voice, embracing odd appearances, and persisting despite many excuses are seen as paths to beautiful work.

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I write much better in the nonconfines of the early morning than I do the clutter of the day.

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Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.

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If you write beautifully, you write beautifully, that's all.

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There are a lot I'm proud of, and a lot I wish the hell I'd never written.

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I've written all that I've wanted to write to date.

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I don't feel, God dictated that I should write.

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If you need drugs to be a good writer, you are not a good writer.

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a basic “must” for every writer: A simple solitude-physical & mental.

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You can be a hunchback and a dwarf and what-all. If you write beautifully, you can write beautifully.

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I don't know what my friends do. Generally they become producers. That way they can stop writing!

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Writing is a demanding profession and a selfish one. And because it is selfish and demanding, because it is compulsive and exacting,…

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I choose to think of tv audience as nameless, formless, faceless people who are all like me. And anything that I write,…

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I don't enjoy any of the process of writing. I enjoy it when it goes on if it zings and it has…

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Writers vary tremendously. Was it Tom Wolfe who stood up or was it [Ernest] Hemingway who had to stand up? I don't…

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Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull.

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Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are.

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I just want people to remember me a hundred years from now. I don't care that they're not able to quote any…

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Writers, like most human beings, are adaptable creatures. They can learn to accept subordination without growing fond of it. No writer can…

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It has forever been thus: So long as men write what they think, then all of the other freedoms - all of…

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You know, writer can write about the Foreign Legion without ever having been in the Foreign Legion, but that doesn't necessarily mean…

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You must always assume that the relationship between writer and producer is that of adversaries - however you slice it. They may…

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I think I'd rather win, for example, a Writer's Guild award than almost anything on earth. And the few nominations I've had…

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I'd love to be able to write an in-depth piece of what causes men like [Richard] Nixon and [H.R.]Haldeman and [John] Ehrlichman…

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If you write, fix pipes, grade papers, lay bricks or drive a taxi - do it with a sense of pride. And…

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I suppose we think euphemistically that all writers write because they have something to say that is truthful and honest and pointed…

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Essentially, the scripts are not that different. Let's say, in literary terms, it's the difference between writing horizontally and writing vertically. In…

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In eleven or twelve years of writing, Mike, I can lay claim to at least this: I have never written beneath myself.…

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People are put down in television now, not because they're not qualitative, not because they're not talented - but because there's no…

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This is, if not a lifetime process, it's awfully close to it. The writer broadens, becomes deeper, becomes more observant, becomes more…

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There are millions of ways to not be writing. You say you're not in the mood, you'll pick it up tomorrow.

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I don't think it's man's function to write. I don't think it's a normal thing like teeth-brushing and going to the bathroom.…

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The writer's no different. When he's rejected, that paper is rejected, in a sense, a sizeable fragment of the writer is rejected…

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Why do I write? I guess that's been asked of every writer. I don't know. It isn't any massive compulsion.

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Somehow, some way, incredibly enough, good writing ultimately gets recognized. If you're a really good writer and deserve that honored position, then…

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It's part of the business of really not caring about topping myself because I really don't care what's going to happen. I…

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I think the essence of the argument has always been, first of all, the Guild doesn't want writing on spec. And that's…

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I find dictating in the mass media particularly good because you're writing for voice anyway; you're writing for people to say a…

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The writer's role is to menace the public's conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the…

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If you're really a good writer and deserve that honored position, then by God, you'll write, and you'll be read, and you'll…

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Most shows, buying shows, have a standard fee for the first shot of the writer and if you have a very militant…

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More by Rod Serling

If you want to prove that God is not dead first prove that man is alive.

There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.

There are weapons that are simply thoughts. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy.

I don't believe in reincarnation. That's a cop-out, I know. I don't really want to be reincarnated.

I was deeply interested in conveying what is a deeply felt conviction of my own. This is simply to suggest that human beings must…

If in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human spirit.

Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete

It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears.

I don't know what my friends do. Generally they become producers. That way they can stop writing!

I just want people to remember me a hundred years from now. I don't care that they're not able to quote any single line…

According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the Earth. It is man’s prerogative - and woman’s - to create their own particular…

“In his grave, we praise him for his decency - but when he walked amongst us, we responded with no decency of our own.…

If you're really a good writer and deserve that honored position, then by God, you'll write, and you'll be read, and you'll be produced…

I would guess that the price of the script really is secondary. The credit is much more the essence.

I don't think it's man's function to write. I don't think it's a normal thing like teeth-brushing and going to the bathroom. It's a…