No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality. — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“Slowly the pattern of our days grew, and shaped itself into a happy life.” — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“Tod Donald rarely did anything voluntarily, or with planning, or even with intent acknowledged to himself; he found himself doing one thing,… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“I'd have to be pretty damn silly to think that people had rights to other people's love; in my life I've earned… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
The idea of a series of items, following one another docilely, forms the only possible reasonable approach to life if you have… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“Everything that makes the world like it is now will be gone. We'll have new rules and new ways of living. Maybe… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“I suppose the mothers of most twelve-year-old boys live with the uneasy conviction that their sons are embarked upon a secret life… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“We believed optimistically that Laurie was a reformed character. I told my husband, on the last day of Laurie's confinement, that actually… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
“She could not remember ever being truly happy in her adult life; her years with her mother had been built up devotedly… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share Image
I can't help it when people are frightened," says Merricat. "I always want to frighten them more. — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“She could not remember ever being truly happy in her adult life; her years with her mother had been built up devotedly around small… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“Upstairs Margaret said abruptly, 'I suppose it starts to happen first in the suburbs,' and when Brad said, 'What starts to happen?' she said… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“The beautiful clarity of all marked outlines occurred to her--there would be a deep satisfaction in strengthening fences, for instance, going along on the… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“And we held each other in the dark hall and laughed, with the tears running down our cheeks and echoes of our laughter going… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“Why do people want to talk to each other? I mean, what are the things people always want to find out about other people?” — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“It was as though the people needed the ugliness of the village, and fed on it. The houses and the stores seemed to have… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“Eleanor—“I plan to stay up and read for a while.” “Are you still reading Pamela?” Eleanor asked the doctor. “Volume two. I have three… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
February, when the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring back any air of summer. — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
“it’s quite a hazard, quite a hazard indeed, people knocking you down. Still, it’s a genuine pleasure to find one as willing as you… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
On the moon we have everything. Lettuce, and pumpkin pie and Amanita phalloides. We have cat-furred plants and horses dancing with their wings. All… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
She walked quickly around her one-room apartment. After more than four years in this one home she knew all its possibilities, how it could… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
I very much dislike writing about myself or my work, and when pressed for autobiographical material can only give a bare chronological outline which… — Shirley Jackson Copy Share
