Top 120 J. Michael Straczynski Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your side, my side, and the truth.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

2. “I am big believer 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

3. “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

4. “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

5. “When in doubt, blow something up.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

6. “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

7. “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

8. “Half-way through any big project, everyone forgets what they’re doing.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

9. “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

10. “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

11. “We are not powerless. We have tremendous potential for good or ill. How we choose to use that power is up to us; but first we must choose to use it. We’re told every day, You can’t change the world. But the world is changing every day. Only question is who’s doing it? You or somebody else?”

— J. Michael Straczynski

12. “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

13. “Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

14. “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

15. “G’Kar: I believe that when we leave a place, part of it goes with us and part of us remains. Go anywhere in the station when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while, you will hear the echoes of all our conversations, every thought and word we’ve exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that is going will very much miss the part of you that is staying.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

16. “All love is unrequited. All of it.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

17. “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

18. “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

19. “Never follow somebody else’s path; it doesn’t work the same way twice for anyone.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

20. “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

21. “You can’t always relate to the big action things, but you can relate to small moments.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

22. “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

23. “If your going to have delusions, you might as well go for the really satisfying ones.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

24. “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

25. “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

26. “Accidents happen. That’s what everyone says. But in a quantum universe there are no such things as accidents, only possibilities and probabilities folded into existence by perception.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

27. “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

28. “Life was meant to be lived full measure, flat out, pedal to the metal. Don’t live the rest of your life like a Porsche that never leaves the garage because somebody’s afraid to scratch it.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

29. “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

30. “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

31. “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

32. “The sky was full of stars, and every star an exploding ship.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

33. “I’ve made a decision and now I must face the consequences.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

34. “G’Kar: We are all the sum of our tears. Too little and the ground is not fertile, and nothing can grow there. Too much, the best of us is washed away.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

35. “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

36. “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

37. “I always knew that I was going to be a writer. There was no question in my mind about that.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

38. “A movie is a movie and a book is a book, and they have different rules.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

39. “You can only have one voice on set, and that has to be the director.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

40. “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

41. “It’s easy to find something worth dying for. Do you have anything worth living for?”

— J. Michael Straczynski

42. “The quality of our thoughts is bordered on all sides by our facility with language.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

43. “No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

44. “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

45. “It was the dawn of the third age of mankind...”

— J. Michael Straczynski

46. “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

47. “Stun settings are for people who can’t commit.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

48. “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

49. “If I feel that I’m not able to do my best work – whether that’s my own fault or as a result of an editorial situation – then I need to stop doing it. I would rather not do something than do it badly or ineffectively. It’s the only way I can live with myself and do right by the fans in the long haul.”

— J. Michael Straczynski

50. “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