Photo: www.syfy.com

Just as “Auld Lang Syne” is a musical staple of New Year’s Eve, many television viewers will spend at least part of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day watching “The Twilight Zone” marathon on the Syfy Channel. Of course, that particular tradition would not have been possible without Rod Serling, who used his television platform to entertain while delivering a sometimes scathing social commentary about the ills of man. So, submitted for your perusal are quotes from Serling—a brilliant provocateur who apparently died not realizing that his writing would be eternally relevant and would inspire fans long after he banged out the words on his typewriter.

1. “Writing is a demanding profession and a selfish one. And because it is selfish and demanding, because it is compulsive and exacting, I didn’t embrace it. I succumbed to it.”

2. “On a writer’s way up, he meets a lot of people. In some rare cases, there’s a person along the way who happens to be around just when they’re needed. Perhaps just a moment of professional advice or a boost to the ego when it’s been bent, cracked and pushed into the ground.”

3. “For every man who goes up, someone has to leave. And when the departure of the aged is neither philosophical nor graceful, there’s an aching poignancy in the changing of the guard.”

4. “On the periphery of every success lies a brooding monster known as a flash in the pan. It wasn’t long before I realized that the writing which brought me success on a platter was also evolving as my principal competition. Now I had something to prove—first to others and then to myself.”

5. “I have a lot of things I want to make comment on. Firstly prejudice, which I feel is the most innate evil in our society. Ultimately, all evils grow from it. But you just can’t deal with meaningful social issues on television.”

6. “They don’t want to offend with controversy, but TV offends by the inclusion of commercials in a high-quality drama. How can you put out a meaningful drama when every fifteen minutes proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper? No dramatic art form should be dictated and controlled by men whose training and instincts are cut up in entirely different cloth.”

7. “Hollywoood’s a nice place to live if you’re a grapefruit.”

8. “On ‘The Twilight Zone,' I knew that I could get away with martians saying things that Republicans and Democrats couldn’t.”

9. “Apparently on the screen I look tall, ageless, and damned close to omniscient—delivering jeopardy-laden warnings through gritted teeth. But when people see me on the street, they say ‘by God, this kid is 5 foot 5, he’s got a broken nose, and looks about as foreboding as a bank teller on a lunch break.’”

10. “Someplace between apathy and anarchy is the stance of the thinking human being. He does embrace a cause, he does take a position, and can’t allow it to become business as usual. Humanity is our business.”

11. “As I grow older, the urge to write gets less and less. I’ve pretty much spewed out everything I had to say, none of which has been particularly monumental—nothing which will stand the test of time. The good writing, like wine, has to age well and my stuff has been momentarily adequate.”

(Source: “Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval”.)

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