Gothic Literature Quotes

“would a madman have been so wise as this?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

“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

“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

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

“I made up my mind to take the life of the old
man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“He was wearing a purple cloak over his shoulders in a strange, foreign fashion, his arms folded inside it. His face was deathly pale, but as his great black eyes stared at me, a dagger seemed to pierce my heart. A feeling of horror ran through me, and quickly turning my face away, I summoned all my strength and continued speaking. But as though compelled by some magic force, I could not help looking over towards him again and again. He still stood there, impassive and motionless, his ghostly eyes fixed upon me. Something resembling bitter scorn and hatred lay on his high, furrowed brow and his drawn lips. The whole figure had a horrible, frightening air about it. It was... it was the mysterious painter from the Holy Linden.

Cruel, icy fingers clutched at my heart. A fearful sweat on my forehead; my phrases stuck in my throat, and my speech became more and more incoherent. But the terrible stranger still leant silently against the pillar, his glassy eyes set unwaveringly on me.”
― E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Devil's Elixirs

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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 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

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