Remembering Ray Bradbury: His most affecting quotes 
Science fiction's mainstream apostle died Wednesday at age 91. Here, writers 
gather their favorite bits of wisdom from the prolific Fahrenheit 451 author

 
Ray Bradbury pictured in 1984: The passionate and prolific science-fiction 
writer died Wednesday at the age of 91. Photo: Jean-Claude Amiel/Kipa/Corbis 

Best Opinion:  Huff. Post, Flavorwire, Twitter...
Ray Bradbury, whom The New York Times calls "the writer most responsible for 
bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream," died Wednesday at 
age 91. The author of sci-fi classics The Martian Chronicles and Something 
Wicked This Way Comes may be best known for the 1953 masterwork Fahrenheit 451, 
his discomfiting portrait of a future where society has outlawed literature. He 
was also a font of poignant wisdom and constructive advice. Numerous 
publications are remembering Bradbury through his quotes, with fans following 
suit using the Twitter hashtag #BradburyChronicles. Here, a selection of the 
most resonant Bradburyisms:  
On his legacy
"Do you know why teachers use me? Because I speak in tongues. I write metaphors. 
Every one of my stories is a metaphor you can remember."
(via The Huffington Post) 

"I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, 
sideshows, or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the 
room."
(via Flavorwire)

"I sometimes get up at night when I can't sleep and walk down into my library 
and open one of my books and read a paragraph and say, 'My God, did I write 
that?'"
(via The Huffington Post) 
On the future
"I was not predicting the future, I was trying to prevent it."
(via Twitter)  
"We must move into the universe. Mankind must save itself. We must escape the 
danger of war and politics. We must become astronauts and go out into the 
universe and discover the God in ourselves."
(via CNN) 
"I don't think the robots are taking over. I think the men who play with toys 
have taken over. And if we don't take the toys out of their hands, we're fools."
(via the Associated Press) 
"There is no future for e-books, because they are not books. E-books smell like 
burned fuel."
(via The Huffington Post)  
On writing
"I don't need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me."
(via Buzzfeed) 
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
(via The Washington Post) 
"Write a short story every week. It's not possible to write 52 bad short stories 
in a row."
(via Twitter)  
"And what, you ask, does writing teach us? First and foremost, it reminds us 
that we are alive and that it is gift and a privilege, not a right.... So while 
our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, 
old age, or death, it can revitalize us amidst it all."
(via Flavorwire)  
On burning books
"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."
(via Twitter) 
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture."
(via The Washington Post)  
On life
"You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way 
down."
(via Buzzfeed)  
"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the 
world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories."
(via Flavorwire) 
"Why would you clone people when you can go to bed with them and make a baby? 
C'mon it's stupid."
(via Flavorwire)  
"I have three rules to live by. One, get your work done. If that doesn't work, 
shut up and drink your gin. And when all else fails, run like hell!"
(via The Paris Review) 
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. 
After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together."
(via Buzzfeed)