13 quotes
How very much like a native of Earth this creature was. Governed by its stomach and a will to survive. A religion founded in fear and nurtured on terror.
Over the Edge (1970)
Since the first night of Man, hunkered down hairy and hungry by the primeval lightning-borne food fire, fear has been the prime mover. Forget momma love and posterity and men’s unquenchable curiosity. Fear is the principle mode of locomotion of homo sapiens.
Over the Edge (1970)
It was gibberish, but it was a deep gibberish, and if he kept talking, the beast would shuck off the thoughts rather than try to fathom them.
Over the Edge (1970)
Fear in the hands of a motion picture maker, like a shotgun in the hands of a baby, need not necessarily be properly aimed to make a helluva bang. But to hit the target dead-on, requires maturity and thought.
Over the Edge (1970)
It hardly needs more demonstration than a flicking on of the TV set to prove that if left to its own devices, the taste of the mass—per Sturgeon’s Law—will inevitably sink to the lowest possible common denominator.
Over the Edge (1970)
In me own humble way, for the last few years, I’ve been trying to do an Ombudsman’s job in speculative fiction. I’ve been trying to tell a little truth to people who choose to believe rumor, gossip, non sequiturs and outright insanity, rather than dealing with reality.
Over the Edge (1970)
Over the last few years I’ve been telling science fiction fandom that they are The Establishment in this genre, and for my pains I’ve amassed a truly impressive following of people who loathe, hate and despise me.
Over the Edge (1970)
The day of the Common Man is past. We must be, each one of us, Renaissance Man. We must be sharp and quick and wise and kind and tough. And the boob opinion is no longer good enough. No, dingdong, you’re not entitled to your opinion, if it’s an over-the-edge opinion that makes you blind to the truth and makes you operate off faulty information.
Over the Edge (1970)
It’s not often people will tell you how they really feel about gut-level things. Like god or how they’re afraid they’ll go insane like their grandfather or sex or how obnoxious you are when you pick your nose and wipe it on your pants. They play cozy with you, because nobody likes to be hated, and large doses of truth from any one mouth tend to make the wearer of the mouth persona non grata.
Over the Edge (1970)
No God is sane. How could it be? To be a Man is so much less taxing, and most men are mad. Consider the God. How much more deranged the Gods must be, merely to exist. There can be no doubt: consider the universe and the patterns without reason upon which it is run. God is mad. The God of Music is mad. The Timegod is punctual, but he is mad. And the Machine God is mad. He has made the bomb and the pill and the missile and the acid and the electric chair and the laser and the embalming fluid and the thalidomide baby in his own image.
Over the Edge (1970)
Traditionally, in this country more than anywhere else, we have judged that the simple man, the hard-working man of the earth or the assembly line is the backbone of our morality. That it is he who will save us in times of stress. Well, that’s as outdated a philosophy as believing blacks all love watermelon.
Over the Edge (1970)
I no longer indulge in those time-wasting amateurisms called “fanning”; I decided if I was going to be a writer, I had to go ahead and ignore all the silverfish in the paperwork. And that meant no more fan magazine writing, no more convention attending, no more getting caught up in the moronic time-cannibalizing feuds many fans need to sustain their mingy little lives.
Over the Edge (1970)
The producer who is the sole concern is “product” is doomed merely to make money.
Pause, while the fat-cats chuckle on their way to the bank. Yeah, we know that bit. Nice talking to you, fellas. Move on, so we can get back to the business of creating, as opposed to producing.
Over the Edge (1970)