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Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson Quotes

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Famous Shirley Jackson Quotes

“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.”

SistersMushroomsHaunted HouseGothic FictionBest Opening Paragraph
Book:We Have Always Lived in the Castle
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“He seemed about to go on in this strain, which was a favorite of his, but then recollected himself, and said wryly, "I reveal myself more with every word. I am honest, Natalie, and sometimes ashamed of it." "I always am, when I'm honest," Natalie said. "Are you?" he asked with interest. "Do you know when you're being honest?" "Usually," Natalie said. "If I'm surprised at myself for saying it thinking it, it's honest.”

HonestHonestyAshamed
Book:Hangsaman
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“Well,” she said, “when I decided to put together the land of Oz and the country of the hobbits and Rootabaga and Mother Goose Land, because they were all scattered all over and I kept forgetting which book I had to take to get to each country—well, anyway, I decided to put them all together. Fairyland, too, of course. So it’s all called Gunnywapitat now, and Ozma lives there, and all the hobbits, and the Cowardly Lion and the old woman in the shoe, and Peter Pan, and Oberon and the rest, all there where I can get to them easy. Gunnywapitat.”

ChildrenImaginationFantasyPeter PanFantasy WorldsFairylandOzMother GooseHobbitsRootabaga Stories
Book:Raising Demons
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“Eleanor looked up, surprised; the little girl was sliding back in her chair, sullenly refusing her milk, while her father frowned and her brother giggled and her mother said calmly, 'She wants her cup of stars.' Indeed yes, Eleanor thought; indeed, so do I; a cup of stars, of course. 'Her little cup,' the mother was explaining, smiling apologetically at the waitress, who was thunderstruck at the thought that the mill's good country milk was not rich enough for the little girl. 'It has stars in the bottom, and she always drinks her milk from it at home. She calls it her cup of stars because she can see the stars while she drinks her milk.' The waitress nodded, unconvinced, and the mother told the little girl, 'You'll have your milk from your cup of stars tonight when we get home. But just for now, just to be a very good little girl, will you take a little milk from this glass?' 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; 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.”

Individuality
Book:The Haunting of Hill House
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“We believed optimistically that Laurie was a reformed character. I told my husband, on the last day of Laurie's confinement, that actually one good scare like that could probably mark a child for life, and my husband pointed out that kids frequently have an instinctive desire to follow the good example rather than the bad, once they find out which is which. We agreed that a good moral background and thorough grounding in the Hardy Boys would always tell in the long run. ("Arch-Criminal")”

BoysJuvenile DelinquencyHardy BoysMoral Instruction
Book:Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories
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“Theodora dreamed over the fire just beyond the tips of her toes, and Eleanor thought with a deep satisfaction that her feet were handsome in their ed sandals; what a complete and separate thing I am, she thought, going from my red toes to the top of my head, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me. I have red shoes, she thought —that goes with being Eleanor; I dislike lobster and sleep on my left side and crack my knuckles when I'm nervous and save buttons. I am holding a brandy glass which is mine because I am here and I am using it and I have a place in this room. I have red shoes and tomorrow I will wake up and I will still be here.”

SelfIdentityIndividualismSurreal
Author:Shirley Jackson
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“On either side of Natalie as she walked toward her own room were doors: perhaps behind one door a girl was studying, behind another a girl was crying, behind a third a girl was turning uneasily in her sleep. Behind a certain definite door downstairs Anne and Vicki sat, laughing and speaking in loud voices whatever they chose to say; behind other doors girls lifted their heads at Natalie's footsteps, turned, wondered, and went back to their work. I wish I were the only person in all the world, Natalie thought, with a poignant longing, thinking then that perhaps she was, after all.”

AloneAloneness
Book:Hangsaman
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“It was brightly wrapped, and the card on it read, “To Daddy from Jannie.” “It’s fine,” I said. “What is it?” “Not so loud,” Jannie said, whispering. “It’s a potholder.” “A potholder?” “Yes, we learned how to make potholders in Starlight 4-H Club. And this is for Sally.” “A potholder?” “Yes, and this is for Laurie, and this is for Barry.” “A potholder for Barry?” “Yes, because in the mornings when his cereal’s too hot. Oh, golly.” Hastily she snatched the bottom package from the box and put it under her pillow. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” she said. “I didn’t see it,” I told her. “I never even noticed it.” “Good,” she said, “because that’s a secret, that one. I won’t even tell you who it’s for.”

ChildrenFamilyHumourParentsChristmas Presents
Book:Raising Demons
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“I could live there all alone, she thought, slowing the car to look down the winding garden path to the small blue front door with, perfectly, a white cat on the step. No one would ever find me there, either, behind all those roses, and just to make sure I would plant oleanders by the road. I will light a fire in the cool evenings and toast apples at my own hearth. I will raise white cats and sew white curtains for the windows and sometimes come out of my door to go to the store to buy cinnamon and tea and thread. People will come to me to have their fortunes told, and I will brew love potions for sad maidens; I will have a robin....”

MagicHaunting
Book:The Haunting of Hill House
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“If I am not the legal resident of the apartment you cannot evict me. You cannot evict Mrs. Tuttle, who is the legal resident of the apartment, because she is not living here. Unless you accept my check you are not going to receive any rent for the apartment at all because you cannot rent it to anyone else while I am living here because you cannot evict me so they could move in. Mrs. Tuttle will not pay the rent because she is not living here. Sincerely, Marian Griswold”

HousingRentEvictionRentingTenantIndians Live In TentsRental AgreemantThe Tenant
Book:Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected Stories
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“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, buy some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks meet neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

Opening LinesShirley JacksonThe Haunting Of Hill HouseHill House
Book:The Haunting of Hill House
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“No, l'aspetto minaccioso del soprannaturale è che attacca la mente moderna dove è più debole, dove abbiamo rinunciato alla corazza protettiva della superstizione senza sostituirla con una difesa d'altro tipo. Nessuno di noi pensa razionalmente che sia stato un fantasma ad attraversare il giardino ieri notte, eppure di sicuro ieri notte a Hill House stava succedendo qualcosa, e il rifugio istintivo della mente - il dubbio - viene meno. Non possiamo dire: "È stata la mia immaginazione", perché c'erano altre tre persone.”

Shirley JacksonHill HouseEleanor VanceHaunting Of Hill House
Book:The Haunting of Hill House
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