Shirley Jackson Quotes

“Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“She wants her cup of stars.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Around her the trees and wildflowers, with that oddly courteous air of natural things suddenly interrupted in their pressing occupations of growing and dying, turned toward her with attention, as though, dull and imperceptive as she was, it was still necessary for them to be gentle to a creation so unfortunate as not to be rooted in the ground, forced to go from one place to another, heart-breakingly mobile.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“We started out making men in about the state of mind which I suppose created them in the first place -- we had run out of kinds of women, and had to think of something else.”
― Shirley Jackson, Raising Demons

“The reassuring bulk of the college buildings showed ahead of her, and she looked fondly up at them and smiled. As she had never been before, she was now alone, and grown-up, and powerful, and not at all afraid.”
― Shirley Jackson, Hangsaman

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, buy some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks meet neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“God has given me blood to drink.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Tooth

“Did you marry me for my father's money?'
'Well, that, and the house.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“The sight of one's own heart is degrading; people are not meant to look inward -- that's why they've been given bodies, to hide their souls.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“[...] 'You, sir,' the man said, addressing Essex. 'Do you atone?'
'Daily,' said Essex.
'Sin?'
'When I can,' said Essex manfully.
'Metal?'
'I beg your pardon?'
'How do you stand on metal? Allow yourselves metal fastenings? Meat? Ills of the flesh?'
'I am heir to all of them,' said Essex, inspired. [...]”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“[...] A man in Texas won a divorce from his wife because she tore out the last chapter of every mystery story he borrowed from the library. [...]”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“Sie schamloser Graubart«, sagte Luke. »Da opfern Sie mich für eine Tasse Kaffee!”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“oh, meine Güte! Ich dachte, ich weiß, was ich sagen wollte, aber ich sage es sehr schlecht.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Seit dem Tod ihrer Mutter war ihre Schwester der einzige Mensch auf der Welt, den sie aufrichtig hasste.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Nachdem ich nun weiß, wer von uns ich ist', sagte Luke, 'kann ich mich gleich noch näher vorstellen.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“»Ich werde so lange im Haus herumlaufen, bis ich in zehn von neun Fällen den Ort finde, wo es was zu essen gibt.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Fear is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield it or we fight it, but we cannot meet at half way.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“In delay there lies no plenty, present mirth hath present laughter.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“«Perché dirti addio è l'unica cosa che mi rimane» disse lei. «Perché dopo dovrò continuare all'infinito a fare le stesse cose che ho sempre fatto, ecco perché, e niente resta uguale quando si è diversi».
«Ma non ha senso» disse lui. «Vuoi dire che io sono diverso perché vado via».
«Non capisci» disse lei. Poi: «Guarda, ci riprovo. Tu non sei più il ragazzo che amo. Tu sei il ragazzo che è stato richiamato alle armi. E a me cosa ne viene? Una manciata di minuti per dirti addio. Quando te ne andrai, non avrò più niente, a parte quello che mi lasci. Non voglio passare questi ultimi minuti con il ragazzo che amo che è stato richiamato alle armi».”
― Shirley Jackson

“Me imagino que el pueblo estaba lleno de corazones podridos que codiciaban nuestras pilas de monedas de oro, pero eran cobardes y temían a los Blackwood.”
― Shirley Jackson

“La comida viene de la tierra y no podemos permitir que se quede allí y se pudra; hay que hacer algo con ella.”
― Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“Todas las mujeres de la familia Blackwood habían recogido la comida que daba la tierra y la habían conservado, y los tarros de intensos colores con embutidos y verduras y mermeladas granate, ámbar y verde oscuro estaban uno al lado de los otros y allí se quedarían para siempre, como un poema compuesto por las mujeres de la familia Blackwood.”
― Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“Fear is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Il lettore che fosse sconcertato dalle mie impacciate descrizioni dovrebbe solo provare a chiudere gli occhi per non più di due minuti e scoprirebbe che, tutt'a un tratto, egli non è più un essere umano solido, bensì una pura coscienza immersa in un mare di sensazioni sonore e tattili; è solo quando abbiamo gli occhi aperti che torna la forma corporea, costruendosi saldamente attorno al nocciolo duro della vista.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Bird's Nest

“Reality,' Essex said. 'Reality. What is real, Aunt Fanny?'
'The Truth,' said Aunt Fanny at once.
'Mrs. Willow, what is real?'
'Comfort, ' said Mrs. Willow.
'Miss Ogilvie, what is real?'
'Oh, dear.' Miss Ogilvie looked for help to Mrs. Willow, to Julia. 'I couldn't really say, not having had that much experience. Well... food, I guess.'
'Maryjane,' said Essex, 'what is reality?'
'What?' Maryjane stared with her mouth open. 'You mean, something real, like something not in the movies?'
'A dream world,' Arabella supplied.
Julia laughed. 'Essex,' she said, 'what is real?'
Essex bowed to her gravely. 'I am real,' he said. 'I am not at all sure about the rest of you.'
[...]
'Well, reality,' Mrs. Willow said finally, 'all it means is money. A roof over your head, of course, and a little something three times a day and maybe a drop to drink. But mostly money. Clothes. Looking nice, and feeling a little chipper, and of course,' she added, giving Essex a wink -- and provoking Arabella into saying 'Mother, dear!' -- 'a man in your bed. Reality!' and now it sounded as though Mrs. Willow might be saying 'May wine,' or even possibly 'tropical moonlight,' and she gave a happy little sigh.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“[...] 'He is the captain,' Miss Ogilvie explained eagerly. 'He is coming home with us, Aunt Fanny invited him.'
'Captain?' said Julia, who was not at all that bright, 'captain of what?'
'I wish I knew,' said the captain.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“Essex made a face. 'Ambrosia is not my drink.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Sundial

“I'm a gentleman all dressed in pink paper, she thought.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Lottery and Other Stories

“Fear … is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“Despite what had been visited on her body, she had looked more thoughtful than tortured, even melancholy. "Pitying," someone had told Mr. Carpenter who wished immediately he had not been told such; it unsettled him to think of a corpse despairing over the fortunes of the living. (98)”
― Cassandra Khaw, When Things Get Dark