[L]et my reader who is puzzled by my awkward explanations close his eyes for no more than two minutes, and see if he does not find himself suddenly not a compact human being at all, but only a consciousness on a sea of sound and touch . . . Shirley Jackson More Quotes by Shirley Jackson More Quotes From Shirley Jackson No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality. Shirley Jackson lifelongreality I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story's readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives. Shirley Jackson villageviolencestories Materializations are often best produced in rooms where there are books. I cannot think of any time when materialization was in any way hampered by the presence of books. Shirley Jackson bookwaythinking So long as you write it away regularly nothing can really hurt you. Shirley Jackson hurtwritinglong The sight of one's own heart is degrading; people are not meant to look inward - that's why they've been given bodies, to hide their souls. Shirley Jackson sightheartpeople No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by 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 met 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. Shirley Jackson walldreamreality Dad and I did not care at all for your story in The New Yorker … [I]t does seem, dear, that this gloomy kind of story is what all you young people think about these days. Why don't you write something to cheer people up? Shirley Jackson dadcheerwriting Fear," the doctor said, "is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway. Shirley Jackson yielddoctorsfighting I have always loved to use fear, to take it and comprehend it and make it work and consolidate a situation where I was afraid and take it whole and work from there. Shirley Jackson situationscaryuse Within, walls continued upright, bricks met 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. Shirley Jackson wallhousedoors I delight in what I fear. Shirley Jackson delight I cannot find any patience for those people who believe that you start writing when you sit down at your desk and pick up your pen and finish writing when you put down your pen again; a writer is always writing, seeing everything through a thin mist of words, fitting swift little descriptions to everything he sees, always noticing. Just as I believe that a painter cannot sit down to his morning coffee without noticing what color it is, so a writer cannot see an odd little gesture without putting a verbal description to it, and ought never to let a moment go by undescribed. Shirley Jackson coffeemorningbelieve The first book is the book you have to write to get back at your parents; the book you always had in you. Once you get that out of your way, you can start writing books. Shirley Jackson parentwritingbook We eat the year away. We eat the spring and the summer and the fall. We wait for something to grow and then we eat it. Shirley Jackson summerspringfall Now, I have nothing against the public school system as it is presently organized, once you allow the humor of its basic assumption about how it is possible to teach things to children. Shirley Jackson assumptionchildrenschool Am I walking toward something I should be running away from? Shirley Jackson running-awayshouldrunning I remember that I stood on the library steps holding my books and looking for a minute at the soft hinted green in the branches against the sky and wishing, as I always did, that I could walk home across the sky instead of through the village. Shirley Jackson homeskybook It has long been my belief that in times of great stress, such as a 4-day vacation, the thin veneer of family wears off almost at once, and we are revealed in our true personalities. Shirley Jackson vacationstresslong A pretty sight, a lady with a book. Shirley Jackson sightbook We moved together very slowly toward the house, trying to understand its ugliness and ruin and shame. Shirley Jackson togetherhousetrying
