110+ J. Michael Straczynski Quotes On Death, War And Death And Dying

J. Michael Straczynski is an American producer, writer and director. He is best known for creating the science fiction television series Babylon 5, and for writing the screenplay for the Clint Eastwood-directed film Changeling. He has written comics and television series, including his own series Rising Stars, The Twilight Zone, and Jeremiah. Following is our collection on famous quotes by J. Michael Straczynski on love, death, war.

Top 10 J. Michael Straczynski Quotes

1. It was the dawn of the third age of mankind.
2. No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.
3. 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.
4. All love is unrequited. All of it.
5. I am a control freak. I will admit that freely.
6. The quality of our thoughts is bordered on all sides by our facility with language.
7. If a person with a bullet in Dallas can change the world, imagine a person with an idea could do.
8. 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.
9. When in doubt, blow something up.
10. 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?

J. Michael Straczynski Short Quotes

• 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.
• Half-way through any big project, everyone forgets what they're doing.
• On the Internet, inside information is currency, and there will always be counterfeiters among us.
• I sometimes find reality far more fantastical and unlikely than what I could just make up.
• I like to consider my mind an open door. It's just not a revolving door.
• I think for any writer, creating and controlling your own property is the ultimate dream.
• I always knew that I was going to be a writer. There was no question in my mind about that.
• Stun settings are for people who can't commit.
• I've always been a science fiction fan since I had understood the conception of what a story was.

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Love

You don't buy into huge car chases or sensates or interstellar warfare, but you can buy into a loving relationship or a father-son relationship, and you can buy into the small humor. If you want to make your fiction universal, go small. That's the best way to do it. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

I wake up every morning knowing how ridiculously lucky I am to be able to do what I love for a living, and that sense of wonder never, ever wears off. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

I like writing. It's partly control freak, and partly I really like what I do for a living. I have the luckiest job in the world. I can get up every day and do what I love for a living. — J. Michael Straczynski

I don't need to write comics for a living. I have movies and TV for that. I write comics for one reason and one reason only: I love comics. I love the form, the structure, the storytelling process, I love everything about it. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Life

You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

The hardest thing in the world is to stand alone. Your friends will not understand, will resent you, will want you to just stop it and let life go back to where it was. But you have to follow the quiet turning of your own considered conscience. It's a hard road. — J. Michael Straczynski

There are people in life, who show you how to live. There are people in life, who show you how to die. — J. Michael Straczynski

Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't accept your compliment. You see, I'm an atheist, so if I'm also God, that would mean that I don't believe in myself, and at this point in my life, I don't need the added insecurity. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Thor

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

When the 'Seinfeld' show said it was going to be a show about nothing, everybody said it couldn't - wouldn't work. It did. 'Thor' is about something, about that character finding his destiny, but it's not doing what was expected... and yet it's doing very well. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Book

Every time I got 'Amazing Spider-Man' or 'Fantastic Four' or another book firmly on the rails, we got pulled into some big event book or crossover and it cost momentum and messed badly with the pacing and structure of the book. — J. Michael Straczynski

I want to have time. When you're doing a monthly book, you're like a man racing after a bus. You're breathless and red-faced. I want to build in quality control. — J. Michael Straczynski

I'm all for crossovers if they benefit the individual books. — J. Michael Straczynski

A movie is a movie and a book is a book, and they have different rules. — J. Michael Straczynski

When a book of mine comes out, I instantly go hunting the net, not for praise, but for criticism, because that's how you learn, from people who don't have to be polite to you. — J. Michael Straczynski

The problem with writing a monthly book is that you're going through your work like a man running for a bus, red-faced and out of breath. There isn't time for reflection or critical self-examination. — J. Michael Straczynski

The only thing that I discovered very early on is that, even though we might change schools and cities and towns and states, the books in the library were the same. They had the same covers. They had the same characters. I could go and visit those people in the library as if I knew them. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Universe

I'm delirious with joy. It proves that if you confront the universe with good intentions in your heart, it will reflect that and reward your intent. Usually. It just doesn't always do it in the way you expect. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

The universe considers me its personal cat toy. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Quotes About Fight

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

A changeling is one child substituted for another. I couldn't find anything more apt. We had to kind of fight that supernatural element in the publicity, and I offered to try and find another title, but Clint liked it, and it stayed. — J. Michael Straczynski

A good story should provoke discussion, debate, argument...and the occasional bar fight. — J. Michael Straczynski

J. Michael Straczynski Famous Quotes And Sayings

Anyone who sets foot into the Watchmen universe and isn't just a little nervous should be given a few days of electroshock therapy. I've always considered Watchmen to be one of the best graphic novels ever written, and when it came out back in 1986 I was as blown away as everyone else. Just masterful. — J. Michael Straczynski

People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives. — J. Michael Straczynski

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. — J. Michael Straczynski

As kids, we spontaneously sing and dance and tell stories, and along the way, someone comes and says, 'No. You shouldn't be doing that.' And we slowly begin to unlearn our passions. I think you have to hold on to those things. — J. Michael Straczynski

We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things. — J. Michael Straczynski

If every violent program in the nation were blipped off the air for 48 hours, and replaced by reruns of the 'Donna Reed Show', there would not be one less death in South Central LA. At most you'd have several more incidents of people shooting out their TVs. — J. Michael Straczynski

Like everyone else, I am going to die. But the words - the words live on for as long as there are readers to see them, audiences to hear them. It is immortality by proxy. It is not really a bad deal, all things considered. — J. Michael Straczynski

Follow your passion. The rest will attend to itself. If I can do it, anybody can do it. It's possible. And it's your turn. So go for it. It's never too late to become what you always wanted to be in the first place. — J. Michael Straczynski

The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between. But there is still time to seize that one last fragile moment. — J. Michael Straczynski

The point of mythology or myth is to point to the horizon and to point back to ourselves: This is who we are; this is where we came from; and this is where we're going. And a lot of Western society over the last hundred years - the last 50 years really - has lost that. We have become rather aimless and wandering. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

We know that if memory is destroyed in one part of the brain, it can be sometimes re-created on a different part of the brain. And once we can unravel that amino chain of chemicals that is responsible for memory, I see no reason why we can't unlock it and, essentially, wipe out what's there. — J. Michael Straczynski

I also like to look at the dynamic that takes place between religion and science because, in a way, both are asking the same questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The methodologies are diametrically opposed, but their motivation is the same; the wellspring is the same in both cases. — J. Michael Straczynski

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 — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

On a certain level, I don't think there is an answer to what the American way is, because it is constantly being re-defined. It's also been exploited and capitalized upon and politicized by one side or the other to the point that a certain degree of cynicism has attached itself to that term. — J. Michael Straczynski

The whole point of Superman, as originally created, was to be the ally of those who had no other allies. It put that magnitude of power, the most powerful guy in the world, in the service of those who had no hope, no chance. — J. Michael Straczynski

There was a point when comics were considered to be mainly of interest to kids, and it was decided that kids could relate more to someone their own age than an adult. So suddenly all these previously grownup comics were lousy with sidekicks: Aquagirl, Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, Stripesy... the list goes on. — J. Michael Straczynski

For me, growing up in a ridiculously poor family living in dead-end neighborhoods, Superman was a deeply personal icon, one that said you can do anything if you put your mind to it. What he stood for formed the core of who I wanted to be as I grew up, and informed how I view the world and my responsibilities to other people. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

We all are big believers in the notion that as a species we are better together than we are apart, that the common core of our shared humanity is stronger than that which seeks to marginalize us and factualize us and turn us against each other. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

Coming from TV and film, rule number one is that you always service the main character first and foremost. If that's not working, you've got nothing. — J. Michael Straczynski

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 — J. Michael Straczynski

They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

I've written for every medium except poetry, at which I suck. — J. Michael Straczynski

When it comes down to it, the reason that science fiction endures is that it is, at its core, an optimistic genre. What it says at the end of the day is that there is a tomorrow, we do go on, we don't extinguish ourselves and leave the planet to the cockroaches. — J. Michael Straczynski

Writing is the process of asking the next logical question. — J. Michael Straczynski

Life isn't about the final moments, it's about the journey, it's about process. What makes Rocky work as a movie is seeing him working his way up from the streets to the arena and the fight of his life. You could just show that fight, and it would be great, but seeing that journey illuminates that fight and adds profound meaning to it. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

I was born in Patterson, New Jersey, and raised pretty much all around the country. My family tended to move from place to place following economic prospects and jobs and looking for new opportunities, so we changed schools, colleges, grade schools, high schools every 6 months to a year - depending on the breaks. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

It's really important to me to keep growing as a writer, to look for new challenges and be harshly critical of my own work in order to learn and tell better stories. — J. Michael Straczynski

I have this theory that the more important and intimate the emotion, the fewer words are required to express it. For instance in dating: 'Will you go out with me?' Six words. 'I really care for you.' Five words. 'You matter to me' Four words. 'I love you.' Three words. 'Marry me.' Two words. Well, what's left? What's the one most important and intimate word you can ever say to somebody? 'Goodbye...' — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

Did Alan Moore get screwed on his contract? Of course. Lots of people get screwed, but we still have Spider-Man and lots of other heroes. — J. Michael Straczynski

To have someone like Clint Eastwood come along and shoot your first draft as written is just any screenwriter's dream. And Clint is very straightforward. If it's good enough to get his attention, it's good enough to produce. — J. Michael Straczynski

I'm all for teaching creation and allowing prayers in schools, as soon as scholars begin teaching Darwinism and geometry in church. — J. Michael Straczynski

I've made a decision and now I must face the consequences. — J. Michael Straczynski

I'm a big believer in the idea that while we are the sum of our tears, we are also the product of our choices in how we deal with those tears. — J. Michael Straczynski

If your going to have delusions, you might as well go for the really satisfying ones. — J. Michael Straczynski

The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain. — J. Michael Straczynski

What are the purposes and priorities of teaching? . . . First, to inspire. Second, to challenge. Third, and only third, to impart information. — J. Michael Straczynski

Touch passion when it comes your way...It — J. Michael Straczynski

You can't always relate to the big action things, but you can relate to small moments. — J. Michael Straczynski

I've always been kind of a mutt creatively. I started off in journalism, and I've actually done more police and procedural shows than I've ever done science fiction shows. I was on 'Murder She Wrote,' I was on 'Walker, Texas Ranger,' I was on 'Jake and the Fat Man.' — J. Michael Straczynski

My house looks like it was decorated by a 14-year old with a platinum American Express card. — J. Michael Straczynski

At its heartmeat core, writing is about exploring the questions of your heart on the assumption that what intrigues you, what inflames or amuses or ennobles you, will have the same effect on someone else. It's about taking chances, and taking risks, and pushing yourself to be honest in the issues that present themselves. — J. Michael Straczynski

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

When I saw Wonder Woman being constantly put in positions where she'd get tied up with her own rope, or held hostage, even as a kid, my reaction was 'C'mon, she's too smart for that.' — J. Michael Straczynski

The sky was full of stars, and every star an exploding ship. — J. Michael Straczynski

For me, there's nothing sexier than a woman who can argue me into the ground and outsmart me...a woman who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it. — J. Michael Straczynski

On a purely personal level, it's very strange, because as a kid, Superman informed my personality. Now I've been given the job of forming Superman's personality and, in some ways, drawing on my own background. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

On most TV shows, you work on a set and do some location. — J. Michael Straczynski

I've changed my mind. I've decided that at the end I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered over someone I don't like. — J. Michael Straczynski

When writers don't know what to do with a character, they build up the supporting cast and universe to kind of hide that fact. After a while, you can no longer see the character for the underbrush. When that happens, you need to bring out the weed-whacker to clear some of that away so you can focus on the main character. — J. Michael Straczynski

People in a cluster are bound to each other automatically, and can see each other automatically. — J. Michael Straczynski

Superhero stories are kind of in my DNA from childhood on, so I think I'm genetically drawn to playing in the genre when the opportunity presents itself. — J. Michael Straczynski

Never follow somebody else's path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone. — J. Michael Straczynski

Writers write for one reason: to create an emotion in the reader, to reach across and make them feel something. You want a reaction. Yeah, it's nicer when the reaction is to throw flowers than it is to throw brickbats, but you have to accept both equally. — J. Michael Straczynski

A story is a story is a story. The only difference is in the techniques you bring to bear. There are always limitations on what you can and can't do. But I enjoy that. Just like when you write a sonnet or haiku, there are rules you have to abide by. And to me, playing within the rules is the fun part. It keeps the brain fresh. — J. Michael Straczynski

We are in a tech-heavy society, plunging headlong into an unknown future. Science fiction is what allows you to stand back and analyze the impact of that and put it in context of how it affects people. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

When you're writing a story in bits and pieces, month in and month out, there really isn't time or space for reflection, no room to learn what those scripts had to teach you. — J. Michael Straczynski

To understand this whole area, you have to stop thinking like a viewer and start thinking like a network programming exec. — J. Michael Straczynski

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

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. — J. Michael Straczynski

Life Lessons by J. Michael Straczynski

1. J. Michael Straczynski teaches that hard work and dedication will pay off in the long run. He worked for years to hone his craft and eventually become a successful producer.
2. He also emphasizes the importance of staying true to yourself, even when it's difficult. He has always been passionate about storytelling and has never let anyone else's opinion dictate his decisions.
3. Finally, J. Michael Straczynski emphasizes the importance of taking risks and being open to new experiences. He has taken risks throughout his career and has never been afraid to try something new.