Rodman Edward Serling was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science-fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. Inspirational Rod Serling quotes will get you through anything when the going gets tough and help you succeed in every aspect of life.
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Most Famous Rod Serling Quotes
In almost everything I’ve written, there is a thread of this man’s seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself Rod Serling
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 supered position on the animal Rod Serling
For civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized Rod Serling
I’m an affluent screenwriter and all that I’m a known screenwriter, but I’m not in the fraternity of the very, very major people I would say a guy like Ernie Lehman William Goldman, and a few others are quite a cut above Rod Serling
There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own Rod Serling
The major difference frequently is in time. The motion picture, for example, gives you considerably more freedom of expression than does the confined thirty minute television show But in essence, they’re not that dissimilar Rod Serling
It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper Rod Serling
If you write beautifully, you write beautifully, that’s all Rod Serling
Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull Rod Serling
Most shows, buying shows, have a standard fee for the first shot of the writer and if you have a very militant agent, I suppose he might jack it up four percent or something. But in essence, you sell for what is the going rate Rod Serling
The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitz’s all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the earth into a graveyard Rod Serling
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 with the guild, and the few awards I’ve had, represented to me a far more legitimate concrete achievement than anything Rod Serling
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout Rod Serling
I ask for your indulgence when I march out quotations. This is the double syndrome of men who write for a living and men who are over forty The young smoke pot we inhale from our Bartlett’s Rod Serling
Coming up with ideas is the easiest thing on earth. Putting them down is the hardest Rod Serling
If you write, fix pipes, grade papers, lay bricks or drive a taxi do it with a sense of pride. And do it the best you know how. Be cognizant and sympathetic to the guy alongside, because he wants a place in the sun, too. And always always look past his color, his creed, his religion and the shape of his ears Look for the whole person. Judge him as the whole person Rod Serling
The ultimate obscenity is not caring, not doing something about what you feel, not feeling! Just drawing back and drawing in becoming narcissistic Rod Serling
And something inside the young man cracked The small compartment in the back of his mind, where man closets his fears, ties them up, controls and commands them, broke open and they surged across brain and nerves and muscles a nightmare flood in open rebellion Rod Serling
Human beings must involve themselves in the anguish of other human beings Rod Serling
I think the essence of the argument has always been, first of all, the Guild doesn’t want writing on spec. And that’s been a major problem over the years. But obviously, to the young writer that’s unfair and it’s discriminatory, and it can be very hurtful to one’s career Rod Serling
Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible Rod Serling
The good agent probably is not the reader, he’s just the guy who can put together a deal Rod Serling
You’re traveling through another dimension a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind Rod Serling
I don’t have close relationships with agents They’re friends, but they’re not confidants Rod Serling
And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in the Twilight Zone Rod Serling
Seeing does not always believe Rod Serling
And what I further don’t understand is how little you appreciate the nature of your departure Think of all the poor souls who go in violent accidents Rod Serling
I’m frequently surprised, sometimes bugged off, and sometimes happy, depending on the actor. It’s a fact of life that just as often as not an actor can breathe life into a line as he can destroy it by misinterpretation, and I’ve been blessed frequently by having good actors Rod Serling
All the Dachaus must remain standing Rod Serling
I couldn’t direct because I’m too impatient and I couldn’t put together a package because I don’t understand money. I’d rather just do what I’m doing Rod Serling
The ultimate obscenity is not caring, not doing something about what you feel, not feeling! Just drawing back and drawing in, becoming narcissistic Rod Serling
In terms of screenwriting adaptations it’s trying to cut out stuff that’s extraneous, without doing damage to the original piece, because you owe a debt of some respect to the original author That’s why it was bought Rod Serling
For the record, suspicion can kill, and prejudice can destroy And a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own, for the children and the children yet unborn Rod Serling
If the producer doesn’t like you, consequently he reads the script with a very negative view. But I wouldn’t preoccupy myself with that, I don’t give a damn You can be a hunchback and a dwarf and whatall Rod Serling
The ultimate obscenity is not caring, not doing something about what you feel, not feeling! Just drawing back and drawing in, becoming narcissistic Rod Serling
I’ve written all that I’ve wanted to write to date Rod Serling
Every man is put on earth condemned to die. Time and method of execution unknown Rod Serling
I remember the first sale I made was a hundred and fifty dollars for a radio script, and, as poor as I was, I didn’t cash the check for three months. I kept showing it to people Rod Serling
It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears Rod Serling
All the Dachaus must remain standing Rod Serling
If in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human spirit Rod Serling
Just drawing back and drawing in; becoming narcissistic Rod Serling
Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull Rod Serling
I miss the camaraderie of live television the fact that you were on the set, you worked closely with the director and the cast, that I miss. But, no, I’m happy, I’m happy doing film Rod Serling
Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re entering the wondrous dimension of imagination- next stop The Twilight Zone Rod Serling
I don’t have any system. I dictate a lot, through a machine, and I also have a secretary. But I used to type just like everybody else Rod Serling
You see. No shock. No engulfment. No tearing asunder What you feared would come like an explosion is like a whisper. What you thought was the end is the beginning Rod Serling
Ideas are born from what is smelled, heard, seen, experienced, felt, emotionalized Rod Serling
There is nothing in the dark that isn’t there when the lights are on Rod Serling
I don’t know what my friends do. Generally they become producers That way they can stop writing Rod Serling
Some people possess talent, others are possessed by it. When that happens, a talent becomes a curse Rod Serling
Over the long haul I’d say that most directors I’ve worked with have been pretty sensitive to the quality of the interpreted scenes Rod Serling
It has forever been thus So long as men write what they think, then all of the other freedoms Rod Serling
I choose to think of the TV audience as nameless, formless, faceless people who are all like me And anything that I write, if I like it, they’ll like it Rod Serling
