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Ghosts Quotes

Browse 555 quotes about Ghosts.

Ghosts Quotes

“Boys often have permission to become men without the forfeiture of their desirability. And so these men write stories that grasp at girls who are ghosts twice over: first by being dead and second by being shallow shadows of actual girls, the assorted fragments of men's aging imaginations rather than the deep and dimensioned creatures that real girls are.”

BoysGirlsGhostsMasculinityThe Virgin Suicides
Book:All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers
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“Which do you think is more valuable to humanity? a. Finding ways to tell humans that they have free will despite the incontrovertible fact that their actions are completely dictated by the laws of physics as instantiated in our bodies, brains and environments? That is, engaging in the honored philosophical practice of showing that our notion of "free will" can be compatible with determinism? or b. Telling people, based on our scientific knowledge of physics, neurology, and behavior, that our actions are predetermined rather than dictated by some ghost in our brains, and then sussing out the consequences of that conclusion and applying them to society? Of course my answer is b).”

PhilosophyScienceNatureKnowledgeSocietyPhysicsGhostsDeterminismLaws Of PhysicsNeurologyBrainsIllusion Of Free Will
Author:Jerry A. Coyne
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“Spirits and ghosts are probably powerless creatures, you know. I know they’re supposed to be able to influence humans — to be able to read their minds, and so on. But they don’t have physical power over people, or objects; I don’t think they can even see them. And what happens when from the other side they try to reach people whose minds are insensitive, and who don’t react? Or who are too sensitive, so they overreact? I’m sure lines get crossed all the time: it must be easy for a ghost to get frustrated and lose interest. Besides, after a while, seeing into people’s minds must get quite boring and annoying. And aren’t ghosts supposed to be bundles of irritation and resentment? No, I dread dying all the more when I think of such an eternally painful existence. If anything, I envy people who can believe in nothingness after death.”

DyingGhostsSpiritsThe Afterlife
Book:Toddler-Hunting & Other Stories
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“From personal experience, I know for sure that the number one thing that saddens the dead more than our grief — is not being conscious of their existence around us. They do want you to talk to them as if they were still in a physical body. They do want you to play their favorite music, keep their pictures out, and continue living as if they never went away. However, time and "corruption" have blurred the lines between the living and the dead, between man and Nature, and between the physical and the etheric. There was a time when man could communicate with animals, plants, the ether, and the dead. To do so requires one to access higher levels of consciousness, and this knowledge has been hidden from us. Why? Because then the plants would tell us how to cure ourselves. The animals would show us their feelings, and the dead would tell us that good acts do matter. In all, we would come to know that we are all one. And most importantly, we would be alerted of threats and opportunities, good and evil, truth vs. fiction. We would have eyes working for humanity from every angle, and this threatens "the corrupt". Secret societies exist to hide these truths, and to make sure lies are preserved from generation to generation.”

LifePhilosophyWisdomTruthSpiritualDeathEvilNatureGriefExistenceConsciousnessFictionMusicWiseAliveSadnessDyingHealthSadDiseaseLivingConsciousCorruptionGoodCuresSicknessAfterlifeAnimalsDeadExistentialGhostsPhilosopher QuotesCorruptPlantsPhysical BodyAncestorsSpiritsExistEtherealSecret SocietyDeceasedThreatsLoss Of FamilyThe DeadTransformationsSecret SocietiesEthericLoss Of Loved OnePlant WorldSpiritual BodySuzy Kassem Pictures
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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“We are aberrations—beings born undead, neither one thing nor another, or two things at once … uncanny things that have nothing to do with the rest of creation, horrors that poison the world by sowing our madness everywhere we go, glutting daylight and darkness with incorporeal obscenities. From across an immeasurable divide, we brought the supernatural into all that is manifest. Like a faint haze it floats around us. We keep company with ghosts. Their graves are marked in our minds, and they will never be disinterred from the cemeteries of our remembrance. Our heartbeats are numbered, our steps counted. Even as we survive and reproduce, we know ourselves to be dying in a dark corner of infinity. Wherever we go, we know not what expects our arrival but only that it is there.”

WorldDarknessDyingMadnessGravesPoisonInfinityGhostsSupernaturalSurviveUncannyUndeadCemeteriesHorrorsReproduceAberrationsObscenities
Book:The Conspiracy Against the Human Race
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“{The resolution of the surviving members of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, whom Robert Ingersoll was the commander of, at his funeral quoted here} Robert G. Ingersoll is dead. The brave soldier, the unswerving patriot, the true friend, and the distinguished colonel of the old regiment of which we have the honor to be a remanent, sleeps his last sleep. No word of ours, though written in flame, no chaplet that our hands can weave, no testimony that our personal knowledge can bring, will add anything to his fame. The world honors him as the prince of orators in his generation, as its emancipator from manacles and dogmas; philosophy, for his aid in beating back the ghosts of superstition; and we, in addition to these, for our personal knowledge of him, as a man, a soldier, and a friend. We know him as the general public did not. We knew him in the military camp, where he reigned an uncrowned king, ruling with that bright scepter of human benevolence which death alone could wrest from his hand. We had the honor to obey, as we could, his calm but resolute commands at Shiloh, at Corinth, and at Lexington, knowing as we did, that he would never command a man to go where he would not dare to lead the way. We recognize only a small circle who could know more of his manliness and worth than we do. And to such we say: Look up, if you can, through natural tears; try to be as brave as he was, and try to remember -- in the midst of grief which his greatest wish for life would have been to help you to bear -- that he had no fear of death nor of anything beyond.”

LovePhilosophyDeathWishFearFriendshipKnowledgeSadnessMilitaryTearsHonorFameRespectBraveryBraveMemoryResolutionBrotherhoodWorthFriendGhostsBenevolenceSuperstitionEulogyPrinceCamaraderieIngersollRobert G IngersollRobert IngersollRobert Green IngersollOratorDogmasColonelEmancipator
Book:Ingersoll: A Biographical Appreciation
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“The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Women are profoundly entwined with ghosts and ghost stories. There are several notions in Western culture that connect the intrinsically "female" with death. Of course, the very notion of gender is culturally constructed, just as ghosts are culturally constructed. Edith Wharton once asked, "What in the world constitutes a ghost except the fact of its being known for one." Ghosts and gender both require naming and performing, and are not at all uncomplicated, innate, or inherent things. Part of this constructed identity has to do with the cultural roles of women in the United States in the last two centuries.”

WomenGenderGhosts
Book:A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts
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“History, and ghost stories, function for us as a kind of mediumship. We humbly ask questions of the dead to see the deeper meaning in their stories. We seek out the facts of their stories to the absolute best of our ability, as much as historical research allows. We come to inquire, to reveal, to listen, and to share these women's often forgotten, sometimes misrepresented stories. We are glad you are here on this journey with us. And to you we say the same thing we say to the ghosts who allow us to share these stories: Thank you.”

WomenGhostsMisrepresentation
Book:A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts
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“Although terrifying, the evil ghost will probably pose no real danger to you or your family. On the other hand, if you have a demonic infestation, your entire household is in very real danger. A demonic entity will not usually confront you or induce you to flee the home. Because, unlike the evil ghost, the demon does not actually want you to leave. On the contrary, it wants you to stick around so it can destroy your life and sully your soul from the inside.”

HomeSpiritualEvilHouseDevilPossessionGhostDemonGhostsHauntingOccultGuideSpiritual WarfareDemonicHauntedSpiritsHouse Spirit
Book:The New Homeowner's Guide to House Spirits
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“She gathers you close amidst the churning currents. Never doubt that I will always love you, she whispers, and she dives. This time, there is no going up. No return to the surface. There’s a certain strange peace in that knowledge. At least you won’t be alone, you tell yourself. Even if the only person who stays with you is your murderer, it is still better than dying by yourself. You do not resist as she bears you down, nor do you cry (no tears beneath the ocean, after all). Instead, you think of Baba, crouched over the kitchen table as he whispers, All things are transient because now you understand him, so perfectly well. Darkness encroaches, still and quiet; the storm cannot touch these depths. Pressure compresses your lungs and bursts in your ears and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all. Your silence matches Sea Sister’s in this salt-tinged world she inhabits. Then death arrives like a sudden breeze, and blows your spirit clean away.”

DeathSadnessLonelinessGhosts
Book:The Girl with a Thousand Faces
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“I am a ghost town, my body still exists among the remnants and relics, but no one lives here anymore. The locals moved out with the post office. The shelves at the corner store stand as tombstones marking the prices of items that once waited for hands to toss them in their basket. Spiders and the remains of their kills fill the fluorescent lights. The crows don’t even stop on the wires when they fly over.”

LossGriefSadnessDepressionGhostsSpidersBereavementCrowsGhost Town
Book:Survived By: A Memoir in Verse + Other Poems
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“And the bummer thing is, ghosts never leave. They might leave you alone sometimes, but they're always there deep down, whispering lies in your ear. They echo the lies others told you: That you're not smart enough; that you're not pretty; that you'll never amount to anything.”

LiesGhosts
Book:The Teen's Guide to World Domination: Advice on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness
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“Don’t tell Mom, but I think my little emergency last night was a sign. And I was thinking of you when it happened. So, I’m worried that this is a prediction about you. Do you have something big planned? Something dangerous that you’re going to do?” Mike looked away. He didn’t want to lie to her but he also couldn’t tell her his plan. “Well, whatever it is, don’t do it, okay? You’re going to get the feeling soon too. I know it,” she yawned, “It feels like it’s a long way off, but I’ve never had this strong a reaction before. And now that I’m stuck in bed, I can’t help you…or stop you. So please, whatever you’re doing, let it go, okay? Especially if it’s about the shop. Just let me handle it.” “I’ll be careful,” he said. “Huh?” she yawned again. He didn’t answer. Her eyelids grew heavy until they closed all the way. Mike lifted the sheet that was turned down from the bed and draped it over her. Then, he left the room, closing the door behind him. - Saving Hascal's Horrors”

BoysAdventureHorrorGhostsMiddle Grade
Author:Laura Smith
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“The ship and all in it are imbued with the spirit of Eld. The crew glide to and fro like the ghosts of buried centuries; their eyes have an eager and uneasy meaning; and when their fingers fall athwart my path in the wild glare of the battle-lanterns, I feel as I have never felt before, although I have been all my life a dealer in antiquities, and have imbibed the shadows of fallen columns at Balbec, and Tadmor, and Persepolis, until my very soul has become a ruin.”

SoulFearMysteryTerrorRuinsIntrospectionGhostsAntiquityFear Of The UnknownThe Unknown
Book:Ms. Found in a Bottle - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story
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“Scarcely has night arrived to undeceive, unfurling her wings of crepe (wings drained even of the glimmer just now dying in the tree-tops); scarcely has the last glint still dancing on the burnished metal heights of the tall towers ceased to fade, like a still glowing coal in a spent brazier, which whitens gradually beneath the ashes, and soon is indistinguishable from the abandoned hearth, than a fearful murmur rises amongst them, their teeth chatter with despair and rage, they hasten and scatter in their dread, finding witches everywhere, and ghosts. It is night... and Hell will gape once more.”

NightFearHellSunsetGhostsWitchesDusk
Book:Smarra & Trilby
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“It will seem to many persons very inconsistent with their ideas of the dignity of a spirit that they should appear and act in the manner I have described, and shall describe further; and I have heard it objected that we cannot suppose God would permit the dead to return merely to frighten the living, and that it is showing Him little reverence to imagine He would suffer them to come on such trifling errands, or demean themselves in so undignified a fashion. But God permits men of all degrees of wickedness, and of every kind of absurdity, to exist, and to harass and disturb the earth, whilst they expose themselves to its obloquy or its ridicule.”

FearGhostsSuperstitionIneffability
Book:The Night Side of Nature
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“I think locality exercises strange influence over some minds. The peaceful meadow-scenery holds no lurking horrors in its bosom, but in the lonesome moorlands, full of curiously molded boulders, grotesque fancies must assail one there. Creatures seem to come, odd and ill-defined as their surroundings. As a child I had a peculiar horror of those tall, odd-shaped boulders, with seeming faces, featureless, it is true, but sometimes strangely resembling humans and animals. I believe the spinney may be haunted by something of this nature, terrible as the trees. ("The Haunted Spinney")”

FearHorrorGhostsSupernatural
Author:Elliott O'Donnell
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“The banana flavour of his accidental conception, and the banana theme of his accidental death, now all seemed to conspire against him and rather suggest the universe, Mr Fate or whoever did have some sort of master plan after all. Despite all his earlier conjecturing, maybe the universe, Mr Fate or whoever was laughing its fat and meddling head at him. The outlandish evidence did seem to speak for itself, truly suggesting a mocking narrative devised by some mischievous author because quite simply a banana condom had brought Midnight into the world and a banana skin had seen him out. Putting those two seeming truths together, Midnight was once again forced to ask such confused and searching questions like: What is this place, where am I heading? And what’s the deal with all the ruddy bananas?”

ChanceFateConceptionProvidenceGhostsBananasUnusual NamesMidnight MerlotRich Pickings For RavensMonikersThe Afterlife Crisis
Author:Tom Conrad
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“Roscoe Avanger and ghosts again." Charlotte shook her head. "Everything on this island seems related to those two things." "Even us," Zoey said. "Roscoe Avanger bought and renovated the Dellawisp. We met because of him." "And ghosts?" asked Charlotte. "How are we connected to ghosts?" Zoey put away her phone. "I don't know, but I bet we are." Mac laughed. "This is like the Mallow Island version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." "Who?" Zoey asked. "Ah, youth,”

FateConnectedGhostsMeetingSix DegreesKevin Bacon
Book:Other Birds
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“The ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable. Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims. The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory, and fragmented manner that undermines their credibility and thereby serves the twin imperatives of truth-telling and secrecy. When the truth is finally recognized, survivors can begin their recovery. But far too often secrecy prevails, and the story of the traumatic event surfaces not as a verbal narrative but as a symptom. The psychological distress symptoms of traumatized people simultaneously call attention to the existence of an unspeakable secret and deflect attention from it. This is most apparent in the way traumatized people alternate between feeling numb and reliving the event. The dialectic of trauma gives rise to complicated, sometimes uncanny alterations of consciousness, which George Orwell, one of the committed truth-tellers of our century, called "doublethink," and which mental health professionals, searching for calm, precise language, call "dissociation." It results in protean, dramatic, and often bizarre symptoms of hysteria which Freud recognized a century ago as disguised communications about sexual abuse in childhood. . . .”

MindWisdomTruthHumanityHealingConsciousnessPowerPsychologySocietyCrimeAbuseMurderMemoryTraumaGravesHorribleRecoveryDenialGhostsPtsdRapeRestorationDissociationAtrocitiesUnspeakableSurvivorsVictimsSociety DenialFreudDissociativePosttraumatic Stress DisorderRepressed MemoryPsychological TraumaSigmund FreudTrauma TherapyRecovered MemoryViolations
Book:Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
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“Andrei perched on the rooftop of the cinema and looked out at Westwood’s nightlife bustling before him. He was mounted on the single, cream, stoned gargoyle built above in the corner of the theatre. He and his gothic animal breathed under the cold moon. Yes. He always felt like the moon—generally unnoticed by the world, that never minds—and navigated richly through his life alone and uninterrupted, like a ghost. Truth is an unobvious color. Those who attempt truth will never make billboards or conversations but usually sift in the background in awkward veritas.”

CharacterTruthHumanitySocietyLonelinessIdentitySolitudeGhostsMasculinityVeritas
Book:A Happy Ghost
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