Richard Matheson Quotes

“Robert Neville looked out over the new people of the earth. He knew he did not belong to them; he knew that, like the vampires, he was anathema and black terror to be destroyed. And, abruptly, the concept came, amusing to him even in his pain. ... Full circle. A new terror born in death, a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend.”
― Richard Matheson, I Am Legend and Other Stories

“You bastard, he thought, almost affectionately, watching the minuscule protoplasm fluttering on the slide. You dirty little bastard.”
― Richard Matheson, I Am Legend and Other Stories

“Accordingly, Mr. Cook spent four years, six months, two days, $5,228.20, six thousand yards of wiring, three hundred and two radio tubes, a generator, reams of paper, dizzying mentation and the good will of his wife in assembling his duplication machine.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“He hungered for peace and there was no peace. Terror was his only food.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“„Another day. Another collection of wracking hours.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“What is the atomic bomb?” queried Leslie, “But a mass of tortured Elements suffering complete nervous breakdown?”
I shuddered at the thought.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“At home he found the same threats waiting for him. He unlocked the door and stepped into the trap he had formed around him.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“„No amount of reasonable threats prevailed.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“As he stepped into the sunlight, he heard the seals barking loudly. They must have an audience. Slick glory seekers. Whiskered prima donnas.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“The pheasants looked around in bobhead curiosity.
Your pigeon cousins walk in freedom. You sit in the cage in glorious Technicolor.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“„My teenage years were unacceptable. An unhappy array of failed female liaisons and repetitive skin disorders.”
― Richard Matheson, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

“Una vez, en la noche medieval, el vampiro había sido muy poderoso, y enormemente temido. Se lo había considerado anatema, y todavía lo era. La sociedad lo perseguía sin descanso. ¿Pero son sus necesidades más sorprendentes que las necesidades de otros animales y hombres? Realmente, mira en tu alma, ¿es el vampiro tan malo? Sólo bebe sangre. ¿Porqué entonces ese juicio malévolo, esa condenación insensat? ¿Porqué el vampiro no podía elegir su vivienda? ¿Porqué debía ocultarse? ¿Porqué exterminarlos? Ah, ya ves, has convertido al desamparado inocente en un animal perseguido. El vampiro carece de medios de subsistencia, no puede educarse. Se le niega el derecho al voto. No es raro que deba arrastrar una existencia noctura y pedatoria. Neville dejó escapar un gruñido. Claro, claro, pero no permitiría que mi hermana se casase con uno.”
― Richard Matheson, I Am Legend

“Matheson instituía assim uma espécie de distopia vampiresca — sua obra servindo, inclusive, como modelo para muitos cenários de “apocalipse zumbi” que surgiriam na segunda metade do século 20, como o clássico A Noite dos Mortos-vivos (1968) de George A. Romero —, fazendo uso desse modo narrativo que se apropria de tensões do presente para imaginar os mais variados cenários de desastre alternativos ou futuros, bem como da figura do vampiro como agente propagador de doenças, o veículo para o apocalipse.”
― Thiago Sardenberg, À Noite não Restariam Rosas: A Ameaça Epidêmica em Narrativas Vampirescas