310 Quotes by Shirley Jackson

…Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

What are you reading, my dear? A pretty sight, a lady with a book.

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.

Duty and conscience were, for Theodora, attributes which belonged properly to Girl Scouts.

I suppose the mothers of most twelve-year-old boys live with the uneasy conviction that their sons are embarked upon a secret life of crime.

My dear, how can I make you perceive that there is no danger where there is nothing but love and understanding?

If you are not ready in three minutes I will come in and drown you. I want my breakfast.

Around her the trees and wild flowers, with that oddly courteous air of natural things suddenly interrupted in their pressing occupations of growing and dying, turned toward her with attention, as though, dull and imperceptive as she was, it was still necessary for them to be gentle to a creation so unfortunate as not to be rooted in the ground, forced to go from one place to another, heart-breakingly mobile.

She shivered and though, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.