96 Quotes by Algernon Blackwood

His most vulnerable points, moreover, are said to be the feet and the eyes; the feet, you see, for the lust of wandering, and the eyes for the lust of beauty. The poor beggar goes at such a dreadful speed that he bleeds beneath the eyes, and his feet burn.

We have tried all things, and found all wanting.

Oh, oh! This fiery height! Oh, oh! My feet of fire! My burning feet of fire!

This feeble attempt at self-deception only makes the truth harder when you’re forced to meet it.

So convinced was he that the external world was the result of a vast deception practised upon him by the gross senses, that when he stared at a great building like St. Paul’s he felt it would not very much surprise him to see it suddenly quiver like a shape of jelly and then melt utterly away, while in its place stood all at once revealed the mass of colour, or the great intricate vibrations, or the splendid sound – the spiritual idea – which it represented in stone.

I wish I were not quite so lonely – and so poor. And yet I love both my loneliness and my poverty. The former makes me appreciate the companionship of the wind and rain, while the latter preserves my liver and prevents me wasting time in dancing attendance upon women.

And, with the dark, the Forest came up boldly and pressed against the very walls and windows, peering in upon them, joining hands above the slates and chimneys.

And it was in that moment of distress and confusion that the whip of terror laid its most nicely calculated lash about his heart.

It is, of course, extremely interesting to look back across the years questioningly, wonderingly, objectively, without detachments, though seeing “objectively” does not necessarily imply seeing truthfully.