The Outer Limits quotes

[closing narration] The steps man takes across the heavens of his universe are as uncertain as the steps he takes across the rooms of his own life and yet if he walks with an open mind, these steps must lead him eventually to that most perfect of all destinations, truth.

[opening narration] At this very moment, our horizon is menaced by two explosive forces both man-made: one is a deadly wonder, the other wondrously alive. Both forces have compelled man to reach out for worlds beyond his own, new worlds where he may find peace and room to grow. This is the first of those new worlds. The United Nations of Earth have claimed it and called it Annex One. It is almost identical to Earth, except that there is no night. Sunlight is constant. Early reports from the small expeditionary team stationed on Annex One indicated that the ancient planet appeared to be suitable for colonization by Earth's overflowing population, but the most recent reports have contained unspoken, oddly disturbing undercurrents. And the United Space Agency has decided to investigate. The man chosen: Dr. Evan Marshall, psychiatrist.

[closing narration] The forces of violence and the forces of nature compel Man to reach out toward new horizons where peace and sanity may flourish, where there is room to grow. But before we run, should we not first make certain that we have done all that can be done here to end madness, quiet the disturbers of peace, and make room for those who need so little room to grow in?

[opening narration] There was a moment in time when those who were brilliant and powerful also were playful, and when they took recess from their exhausting and magnificent strides toward glory, they replenished their darker passions with fun and games. On the planet Earth, such pastimes have been civilized and drained of all but their last few drops of blood.

You said you'd explain.

When civilized creatures have conquered all that they believe to be worth conquering, then one conquest remains. One elusive conquest. Pleasure. Here on Andera, we are finished with warring, and plundering is done. Our citizens enjoy self-respect, peace, and affluence. But a high order of civilization does not lift the low order of passion. And so such passions must be both appeased and controlled.

[closing narration] The mold of a man stems from the mind of a child. Educators and emperors have known this from time immemorial. So have tyrants.

[opening narration] The planet Luminos: a minor planet, sultry and simmering, incapacitated. Earth scientists have concluded that there could be no life on Luminos, that it is too close to its own sun, that its inhabitants would be victimized by their own blinding atmosphere. But there is life on Luminos, life that should resemble ours, but doesn't, desperate life suffering of great and terrible need. The Luminoids have begun to search the universe in an effort to gratify that need. They seek a planet on which life is healthy, vibrant, strong and mobile. They need such people: to do their work, to labor and slave for them, to manufacture their splendored dreams. The Luminoids need slaves and they have chosen the planet off which their slaves will be abducted. Not too many at first... a neighborhood perhaps... a neighborhood like mine, or yours. Those who will be abducted sleep in dreamy ignorance, unaware that they are about to become the subjects of a grotesque and sophisticated experiment: a feasibility study.

[closing narration] "Do not enter upon or cross this area. Do not touch or remove possibly radioactive dirt or rocks. If you have any knowledge concerning this disappearance, please contact your nearest police department." It could have happened to any neighborhood. Had those who lived in this one been less human, less brave, it would have happened to all the neighborhoods of the Earth. Feasibility study ended. Abduction of human race: infeasible.

[opening narration] In recent years, nuclear physicists have discovered a strange world of sub-atomic particles, fragments of atoms smaller than the imagination can picture, fragments of materials which do not obey the laws of gravity. Antimatter composed of inside-out material; shadow-matter that can penetrate ten miles of lead shielding. Hidden deep in the heart of strange new elements are secrets beyond human understanding-new powers, new dimensions, worlds within worlds, unknown.

[closing narration] As Man explores the secrets of the universe, strange and inscrutable powers await him. And whether these powers are to become forces of destruction or forces of construction will ultimately depend upon simple but profound human qualities: Inspiration. Integrity. Courage.

[opening narration] The race of Man is known for its mutability. We can change our moods, our faces, our lives to suit whatever situation confronts us. Adapt and survive. Even among the most changeable of living things, Man is quicksilver-more chameleon-like than the chameleon, determined to survive, no matter what the cost to others... or to himself.

I don't think you understand me, General. I'm not interested in becoming a hero. Nor do I have an overdeveloped sense of duty. I'm doing this because I'm nothing more than an instrument for action. Mr. Chambers knows that also. Between missions, I cease to exist. I am what I've done, and that's not always very pretty. But being ugly is better than being nothing. I have no one, I care for no one, and I'm cared for by no one. So all I have is what I can do.

[closing narration] A man's survival can take many shapes and the shape in which a man finds his humanity is not always a human one.

[opening narration] There is a fear that is unlike all other fears. It has a special, clammy chill, a deadly gift for inspiring deeper, darker dread. It is the fear of unentered rooms, of bends in lonely roads. It is the fear of the phone call in the middle of the night, of the stranger you recognize, perhaps from a nightmare. It is the fear of the unexpected, the unfamiliar. It is the fear of the unknown.

[closing narration] Murder, madness, and other lurking horrors are the raw certainties that await you in the depths of the unknown. And no switch of time, no twist of plan can cancel your meeting with it. For some night, in some blind panic, you will venture into the world of dark reality. And on that night, you will keep your rendezvous with the unknown.