Quotes from Shirley Jackson

people who live in it; it emphasizes the idea that ghosts, like dreams and hallucinations, are figments of the human intelligence.

It was not pleasant sitting on the porch after Tony had gone; a spot where two people have been talking, however briefly, is not after that a spot for one person to sit alone.

When Luke and I are called outside, and you two are kept imprisoned inside - doesn't it begin to seem - and his voice is very quiet - doesn't it begin to seem that the intention is, somehow, to separate us?

During all of dinner the singing went on upstairs, and no one said a word.

In delay, there lies no plenty

It's wrong to hate them," Constance said, "it only weakens you

The weather falls more gently on some places than on others, the world looks down more paternally on some people. Some spots are proverbially warm, and keep, through falling snow, their untarnished reputations as summer resorts; some people are automatically above suspicion.

But some of us go around hoping

Because Helen Clarke was ungraceful by nature, she managed to make the simple act of moving into a room and sitting down a complex ballet for three people; before Constance had quite finished speaking Helen Clarke jostled Mrs. Wright and sent Mrs. Wright sideways like a careening croquet ball off into the far corner of the room where she sat abruptly and clearly without intention upon a small and uncomfortable chair.

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality;

Don't be so afraid all the time. We never know where our courage is coming from.

Perhaps it has us now, this house, perhaps it will not let us go.

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see you cup of stars again; don't do it; and the little girl glanced at her, and smiled a little subtle, dimpling, wholly comprehending smile, and shook her head stubbornly at the glass. Brave girl, Eleanor thought; wise, brave girl.

I dusted the wedding-cake trim with a cloth on the end of a broom, staggering, and looking up and pretending that the ceiling was the floor and I was sweeping, hovering busily in space looking down at my broom, weightless and flying until the room swung dizzily and I was again on the floor looking up.

She knew, of course, that he was delighting in exceeding his authority, as though once he moved to unlock the gate he would lose the little temporary superiority he thought he had

Ich versteh dich nicht.« Theodora schmiss ärgerlich ihren Stift hin. »Gehst du immer dahin, wo du nicht erwünscht bist?« Eleanor lächelte friedfertig. »Ich bin noch nirgendwo erwünscht gewesen«, sagte sie.

Don't do it, Eleanor told the little girl; insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again; don't do it;

Constance sighed, and tapped her fingers irritably and almost noiselessly on the stair rail. I wish she'd hurry, she said into my ear, my soup is going to boil over.

Das ist zu viel, dachte sie, ich leiste Verzicht auf dieses Selbst, danke ab, gebe freiwillig ab, was ich sowieso nie haben wollte; was es auch von mir will, kann es haben.

Sie schamloser Graubart«, sagte Luke. »Da opfern Sie mich für eine Tasse Kaffee!

That's wrong, Mrs. Winning was thinking, you mustn't ever talk about whether people like you, that's bad taste.

oh, meine Güte! Ich dachte, ich weiß, was ich sagen wollte, aber ich sage es sehr schlecht.

You're lucky you won't ever be pretty. Harriet knew already that this would keep her heartsick for months, perhaps the rest of her life, and she said thickly, I'm losing weight right now. It isn't that you're so fat, Miss Tyler said critically. You just don't have the air of a pretty woman. All your life, for instance, you'll walk like you're fat, whether you are or not.

Seit dem Tod ihrer Mutter war ihre Schwester der einzige Mensch auf der Welt, den sie aufrichtig hasste.