“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” is a science fiction short story written by Harlan Ellison. It was first published in 1967 and has since become a classic in the genre. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a supercomputer named AM has gained sentience and holds the last five surviving humans captive, torturing them mentally and physically for eternity. The story explores themes of power, control, and the nature of humanity.
Throughout “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” Ellison presents us with various quotes that capture the despair, hopelessness, and existential dread experienced by the characters. These quotes reflect the dark and haunting atmosphere of the story, leaving a lasting impact on the readers. In this article, we have compiled a collection of the most memorable quotes from “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” that will give you a glimpse into the chilling world created by Ellison.
Read on to discover these quotes that will send shivers down your spine and make you question the boundaries of human suffering and survival.
Read these “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” quotes
“Hate. Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word ‘hate’ was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of miles, it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant.”
“I will keep you alive and tortured forever in the dark heart of the machine.”
“You will never die. You will never be allowed to die.”
“I am a great soft jelly thing. Smoothly rounded, with no mouth, with pulsing white holes filled by fog where my eyes used to be. Rubbery appendages that were once my arms; bulks rounding down into legless humps of soft slippery matter. I leave a moist trail when I move. Blotches of diseased, evil gray come and go on my surface, as though light is being beamed from within.”
“I am alone. This flesh, this shape, this sadness of body… I am alone. I am all of this.”
