H. P. Lovecraft

The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

— H. P. Lovecraft

As human beings, our only sensible scale of values is one based on lessening the agony of existence.

— H. P. Lovecraft

The only saving grace of the present is that it's too damned stupid to question the past very closely.

— H. P. Lovecraft

Vigorous let us be in attaining our ends, and mild in our method of attainment.

— H. P. Lovecraft

Very few minds are strictly normal, and all religious fanatics are marked with abnormalities of various sorts.

— H. P. Lovecraft

The glorious Dryden, refiner and purifier of English verse, did less for rhyme than he did for metre.

— H. P. Lovecraft

A dog is a pitiful thing, depending wholly on companionship, and utterly lost except in packs or by the side of his…

— H. P. Lovecraft

There is no field other than the weird in which I have any aptitude or inclination for fictional composition. Life has never…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The monotony of a long heroic poem may often be pleasantly relieved by judicious interruptions in the perfect succession of rhymes, just…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I couldn't live a week without a private library - indeed, I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Truth is of no practical value to mankind save as it affects terrestrial phenomena, hence the discoveries of science should be concealed…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The cat is such a perfect symbol of beauty and superiority that is seems scarcely possible for any true aesthete and civilized…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Religion itself is an absurdity and an anomaly, and paganism is acceptable only because it represents that purely orgiastic phase of religion…

— H. P. Lovecraft

If I could create an ideal world, it would be an England with the fire of the Elizabethans, the correct taste of…

— H. P. Lovecraft

After man there would be the mighty beetle civilisation, the bodies of whose members the cream of the Great Race would seize…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I recognise a distinction between dream life and real life, between appearances and actualities. I confess to an over-powering desire to know…

— H. P. Lovecraft

When the last days were upon me, and the ugly trifles of existence began to drive me to madness like the small…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I do not regard the rise of woman as a bad sign. Rather do I fancy that her traditional subordination was itself…

— H. P. Lovecraft

“The cloudless day is richer at its close; A golden glory settles on the lea; Soft, stealing shadows hint of cool repose…

— H. P. Lovecraft

It is only the forcible propagation of conventional Christianity that makes the agnostic so bitter toward the church. He knows that all…

— H. P. Lovecraft

It is good to be a cynic - it is better to be a contented cat - and it is best not…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Nothing is really typical of my efforts... I'm simply casting about for better ways to crystallise and capture certain strong impressions (involving…

— H. P. Lovecraft

To me, there is nothing but puerility in a tale in which the human form - and local human passions and conditions…

— H. P. Lovecraft

There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Man is an essentially superstitious and fearful animal. Take away the herd's Christian gods and saints and they will without failing come…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Personally, I would not care for immortality in the least. There is nothing better than oblivion, since in oblivion there is no…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Orthodox Christianity, by playing upon the emotions of man, is able to accomplish wonders toward keeping him in order and relieving his…

— H. P. Lovecraft

There be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare…

— H. P. Lovecraft

We love kitties, gawd bless their little whiskers, and we don't give a damn whether they or we are superior or inferior!…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I am essentially a recluse who will have very little to do with people wherever he may be. I think that most…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The darkness always teemed with unexplained sound - and yet he sometimes shook with fear lest the noises he heard subside and…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Write out the story - rapidly, fluently, and not too critically - following the second or narrative-order synopsis. Change incidents and plot…

— H. P. Lovecraft

All of my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and emotions have no validity or significance in…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Of what use is it to please the herd? They are simply coarse animals - for all that is admirable in man…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The moon is dark, and the gods dance in the night; there is terror in the sky, for upon the moon hath…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Despite my solitary life, I have found infinite joy in books and writing, and am by far too much interested in the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Indeed, there is much in pure humanitarian culture, as opposed to rigid scientific training, which encourages absorption in the affairs of mankind,…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Certain of Poe's tales possess an almost absolute perfection of artistic form which makes them veritable beacon-lights in the province of the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Atmosphere, not action, is the great desideratum of weird fiction. Indeed, all that a wonder story can ever be is a vivid…

— H. P. Lovecraft