Gothic Literature Quotes

“I knew that sound
well too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It
increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the
soldier into courage.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

“I loathed her with a hatred belonging more to demon than to man.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Ligeia

“I greatly fear that she is of too super-sensitive a nature to go through the world without trouble.”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula

“That she loved me I should not have doubted; and I might have been easily aware that, in a bosom such as hers, love would have regained no ordinary passion. But in death only was I fully impressed with the strength of her affection.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Ligeia

“Sexual desire is only the frustrated desire to eat human flesh.”
― Christopher Frayling

“My heart sank within me to behold that stately mansion in the midst of its expansive grounds — the park as beautiful now, in its wintry garb, as it could be in its summer glory; the majestic sweep, the undulating swell and fall, displayed to full advantage in that robe of dazzling purity, stainless and printless — save one long, winding track left by the trooping deer — the stately timber-trees with their heavy laden branches gleaming white against the full, grey sky; the deep, encircling woods; the broad expanse of water sleeping in frozen quiet; and the weeping ash and willow drooping their snowclad boughs above it — all presented a picture, striking, indeed, and pleasing to an unencumbered mind, but by no means encouraging to me.”
― Anne Brontë, Tenant of Wildfell Hall

“Suddenly, in unconscious response to the steadiness of Nicholas' gaze, she raised her eyelids and looked full at him. A shock ran through her. Her heart beat in slow thick strokes. They looked across the room into each other's eyes for half a second only, then Nicholas', turning to the Countess, said smoothly: 'Ah, that is the most interesting, madame. Tell me more about your little blaise.' But Miranda knew that for all the triviality of the incident something cataclysmic had occurred. Their relationship had changed and from this point there could be no going back.”
― Anya Seton, Dragonwyck

“And when she had spoken such a rhapsody, she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently flow upon my cheek.”
― Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

“The air is thick, the stone is cold,
These chains are rust, these years are old.
Darkness lingers, gnaws, decays,
A hollow tomb in endless days.”
― Mason Carter, Gothic Poems to Love & Liberty: A Collection of Poems on Myths & Broken Hearts

“Through an armoire’s mirrored doors, she saw the ghoul transforming back into a tired, unwell man.”
― Elysanthe, ARIADNE & DIONYSUS

“Even the Bible admitted that the world was full of mystery and beauty and golden perfumed luxury.”
― Anya Seton, Dragonwyck

“A Tropic flower cannot live without sun. A soul cannot live without love.”
― Anya Seton, Dragonwyck

“Never fear, protecting my womb from Gothic novels is my first priority.”
― Shannon Hale, Midnight in Austenland

“I'd not be shocked if bad water was the source of all the moody Gothic Lit classics. With a few cases of hookworm to add some Southern spunk.”
― Damon Thomas, Some Books Are Not For Sale

“The darkness and the night made her see monsters where there were only shadows, screams where a creaking door opened, whispers where the wind swayed.”
― Aran Maza, Garden Of Shadows

“you ought not to consider poverty a crime.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

“(?)
“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“Si asesinar es tu única virtud, entonces es una maldición.”
― Pedro Pablo Rodríguez, Inferno: Una historia de vampiros

“It's almost amusing, in a dark and twisted way, how I've spent my whole life tip-toeing around sharp edges - forever trying to outfox fate just to survive. Now, as if life has come full circle, I find myself intentionally steering into the eye of the storm.”
― Lilith Fury, In the darkness we share

“Loneliness is like curfew, in the bird's cage.”
― Akshat Pathak

“Oh, curses on my voice, tripping out before my mind can call halt to the words.”
― Erzsebet Carmean, Aulisyn A Gothic Sci-Fi Novel

“Eliza knows there is a deep pit in the middle of the floor, darker and more binding than the cell. Sciapods are in there, giggling beneath their monstrous feet. They want to stomp me to a paste and spread me on ash cakes, she thinks.”
― Erzsebet Carmean, Aulisyn A Gothic Sci-Fi Novel

“A Reclusive Invitation by Stewart Stafford

In a mansion crouched at the forest's edge,
Gargoyles perched on a Jericho hedge,
Lived Samuel Keane, with millions at least,
Welcomed the locals to his Christmas feast.

Self-imposed exile of wealth's solitary scene,
On that evening, time for connection pristine,
An alabaster white suit in a chessboard hall;
Legions of armour and battle scars to recall.

"Come, gather round, let camaraderie ignite!
On Christmas Eve, a dream-come-true night!"
Perkins, the grey butler, in reluctant festive red,
Gestured them toward Keane's banquet spread.

Their gracious host took his place at the end,
A throne chair helped into place with a bend,
Beaming, he clapped and food was brought in,
To gasps and applause at the goblets of gin.

A succulent feast at a baronial ball;
Roasted goose, boar, a tall glass highball,
Stories grew taller, just like each drink,
Songs and jests sent them over the brink.

Enjoyment and melody's atmosphere bright,
Fleeting warmth shared in lush candlelight.
Dawn looms, Les Misérables adore company:
"Why does hangover guilt crave chablis?"

A Father Christmas event once a year,
Guests departed, a loud triple cheer,
A fading smile of a host so grand,
Adrift, nothing elaborate planned.

The fireworks faded, the last ember died,
Keane shut his mansion with secrets inside.
A portcullis closed slowly on a seasonal high,
A gothic arch door shut 'neath morning star sky.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Janet began to hate the sea. There was so much of it, flowing, counter-flowing, entering other seas, slyly furthering its interests beyond the mind's reckoning; no wonder it could pass itself off as sky; it was infinite, a voracious marine confederacy.”
― Elspeth Barker, O Caledonia

“Have you ever been held by a man who didn’t want something from you? Who wasn’t trying to own you?”
― A.R. Tapiero, The Devil’s Opera

“You’ll see, should you live long enough, that pretending to be something you’re not was wasted on your youth.”
― A.R. Tapiero, The Devil’s Opera

“I write from where memory falters and the light forgets to follow.”
― Rowan M. Brown

“It was clear that the city had none of the dignity of older capitals. It did not swagger like London, preen like Paris, or prize artistry like Vienna. Manchester was a brute. It pushed up its sleeves, and it smoked, and hammered, and grew.”
― Augusta Achard

“This castle builder had various claims to attention yet, though it was read and wondered at, it did not excite sufficient admiration to gratify the ambition of the author. The 'cold reasoning age' which had not been sufficiently dazzled by his performance, would, he hoped, be succeeded by one more fanciful and enthusiastic. He became the leader of a pompous, if not powerful band of magicians, whose wands conjured up forms more elegant and aerial than their prototype had summoned! Bells rang, owls shrieked and chains rattled in all directions; our circulating libraries swarmed with homebred apparitions.”
― Anne MacVicar Grant, Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland