Darcy Coates > Quotes

“C'mon. We can turn it into a fun game - What's Scarier, The Basement Or The Attic?”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Blackwood House

“The massive grey tabby turned his sea-green eyes towards her and projected abject misery in the way only cats are capable of.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Ashburn House

“This is a house that hasn’t seen a new soul in half a century. The walls are saturated with her; the floorboards are worn down from her feet; the very air continues to carry her presence after her death.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Ashburn House

“You may rule the world by day, but the creatures of the night demand their privacy.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Gillespie House

“There are three parts to a person: a body, a spirit, and a soul. When the body dies, the soul goes into whatever is waiting for us after death. But the spirit can sometimes get stuck behind. That’s what a ghost is: a spirit anchored to earth by residual energy. The soul, the part that goes to the afterlife, is our core person—the identity we were born with. The spirit is our emotions, our temperament, our intelligence—the parts of us that are created and changed by our time on earth. So, when a ghost is formed, it’s missing both the soul and the body that it needs to be a full human. It’s like an echo of what it once was.”
― Darcy Coates, The Carrow Haunt

“She’d said that life had sections, like walking through doors. People had to choose when to walk through them, but no one could see what the next room held until they were in it. Some new rooms were painful. Some were happy. Some seemingly had no purpose. But the fullest, happiest lives were lived by those who walked through many different doors, unafraid of what they would find.”
― Darcy Coates, Hunted

“But what does it matter if I forget a story after a month as long as I enjoy it while I’m reading it?”
― Darcy Coates, The Folcroft Ghosts

“The human mind couldn't cope with looking at nothing for very long and, in sufficient darkness, quickly began to create its own images of what it thought belonged there.”
― Darcy Coates, From Below

“Mistakes make us human; don’t torture yourself over a choice you made four years ago. If you think you were wrong, make a plan to change what you can. Action is good. Choices are good. But guilt on its own never fixed anyone’s problem.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Blackwood House

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
― Darcy Coates, Hunted

“Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you’ll die horribly in the void of space.”
― Darcy Coates, Craven Manor

“They weren’t all that different from her—teenagers who had found themselves classified as adults by virtue of too many birthdays and who were trying to fumble and bluff their way through the world without anyone realising how thoroughly underqualified they were.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Ashburn House

“I’m going to be single my whole life. I’ll have twelve cats and live in a haunted house and be the happiest spinster you’ve ever met.”
― Darcy Coates, The Carrow Haunt

“I wish I’d never started, but I cannot stop. Death is the next step. Heaven owes me no mercy, so I will make my own.”
― Darcy Coates, The Carrow Haunt

“It turned out a person could make the correct choice, and still feel strangled by regret.”
― Darcy Coates, Where He Can't Find You

“Then she looked at her phone and saw, to her horror, she hadn’t been hung up on after all. Her battery had died.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Blackwood House

“A thousand paper cuts given over a lifetime might be insignificant, but when none of them are allowed to heal, they fester into something awful.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Leigh Harker

“how much attention did you pay to your sunrise this morning? Did you make the most of it, as though it could be your last?”
― Darcy Coates, From Below

“Do not mistake hardheartedness for strength. To live in this world and to hold on to your humanity, your compassion, your joy—I believe that is strength. And more valuable than being callous enough that death never haunts you.”
― Darcy Coates, Secrets in the Dark

“It will be fine. Go and season the door, just like regular people do all the time.”
― Darcy Coates, Craven Manor

“Hope cannot be relied on. But sometimes we still need it to survive.”
― Darcy Coates, Dead of Winter

“Rules: No strangers are allowed onto the property. Do not enter the tower. Do not leave the groundskeeper’s cottage between midnight and dawn. Draw your curtains. Keep the door locked. If you hear knocking, do not answer it.”
― Darcy Coates, Craven Manor

“Regret will drag you down, smother you, kill you. You’ve got to face forward. Try your hardest. Do what you can to improve the world while you have the chance.”
― Darcy Coates, The Haunting of Rookward House

“The house, despite being caked in opulence, felt hostile, as though she were unworthy of staying in it. As if it barely tolerated her. The judgement seeped out of the walls and rose through the floorboards. It bled resentment.”
― Darcy Coates, Voices in the Snow

“Sometimes the worst things that happen to you come from the smallest decisions.”
― Darcy Coates, Where He Can't Find You

“The crows were so numerous that they almost appeared like surrogate leaves, dark and ever shifting, as they weighed down the branches.”
― Darcy Coates, Craven Manor

“Ghosts need energy to stay present, to stay powerful. They eat it like we eat food. Sometimes, they have their own energy; the more impactful or distressing the death, the stronger the energy their passing leaves behind.”
― Darcy Coates, The Carrow Haunt

“How do you even remember which ones you’ve read? Don’t they blend together after a while?” “Sure. But what does it matter if I forget a story after a month as long as I enjoy it while I’m reading it?”
― Darcy Coates, The Folcroft Ghosts

“Some things are special,” Witchety continued. “Keys to beloved places. The bones of an animal that never lived a day in captivity. Tiny gifts and unblemished flowers and stones that make you feel a particular way. They may not have much power on their own, but weave them together with care and they create a breathing tapestry. That’s what the Watcher is.” She lifted the talisman. “What this is. Things that are special enough to keep you safe. At least a little.”
― Darcy Coates, Gallows Hill

“he’d felt desperate, always clawing for just enough money to pay rent and eat, running the endless treadmill of job applications and rejections, and feeling that homelessness was always just a misstep away.”
― Darcy Coates, Craven Manor