H. P. Lovecraft

One cannot be too careful in the selection of adjectives for descriptions. Words or compounds which describe precisely, and which convey exactly…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Even when the characters are supposed to be accustomed to the wonder, I try to weave an air of awe and impressiveness…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I expect nothing of man, and disown the race. The only folly is expecting what is never attained; man is most contemptible…

— H. P. Lovecraft

As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The reason why time plays a great part in so many of my tales is that this element looms up in my…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I never cheat or steal. Also, I never wear a top-hat with a sack coat or munch bananas in public on the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Rome was so mighty that it could not fall. It had to vanish in a cloud, like so many of the mythical…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I am only about half alive - a large part of my strength is consumed in sitting up or walking. My nervous…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The very fact that religions are not content to stand on their own feet, but insist on crippling or warping the flexible…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Slowly but inexorably crawling upon my consciousness and rising above every other impression, came a dizzying fear of the unknown; a fear…

— H. P. Lovecraft

More wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of the ocean. Blue, green,…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Thus I began my systematic though half-bewildered tour of Innsmouth's narrow, shadow-blighted ways. Crossing the bridge and turning toward the roar of…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Behold great Whitman, whose licentious line Delights the rake, and warms the souls of swine; Whose fever'd fancy shuns the measur'd pace,…

— H. P. Lovecraft

May the merciful god, if indeed there be such, guard those hours when no power of the will, or drug that the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

“And yet amid that tense godless calm the high bare boughs of all the trees in the yard were moving. They were…

— H. P. Lovecraft

It is easy to remove the mind from harping on the lost illusion of immortality. The disciplined intellect fears nothing and craves…

— H. P. Lovecraft

“Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Zoologists seem to consider the cerebration of cats and dogs about 50-50 -- but my respect always goes to the cool, sure,…

— H. P. Lovecraft

That metre itself forms an essential part of all true poetry is a principle which not even the assertions of an Aristotle…

— H. P. Lovecraft

It would not be amiss for the novice to write the last paragraph of his story first, once a synopsis of the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The sole ultimate factor in human decisions is physical force. This we must learn, however repugnant the idea may seem, if we…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Horror and the unknown or the strange are always closely connected so that it is hard to create a convincing picture of…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The real lover of cats is one who demands a clearer adjustment to the universe than ordinary household platitudes provide; one who…

— H. P. Lovecraft

We should perceive that man's period of historical existence, a period so short that his physical constitution has not been altered in…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Humour is but the faint terrestrial echo of the hideous laughter of the blind mad gods that squat leeringly and sardonically in…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I have seen the dark universe yawning Where the black planets roll without aim, Where they roll in their horror unheeded, Without…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Though not a participant in the Business of life; I am, like the character of Addison and Steele, an impartial (or more…

— H. P. Lovecraft

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

— H. P. Lovecraft

I have never been able to soothe myself with the sugary delusions of religion; for these things stand convicted of the utmost…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training, it can…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Something like fear chilled me as I sat there in the small hours alone-I say alone, for one who sits by a…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough…

— H. P. Lovecraft

“Original title Al Azif—azif being the word used by Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) suppos’d to be the…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are…

— H. P. Lovecraft

It is the night-black Massachusetts legendry which packs the really macabre "kick". Here is material for a really profound study in group-neuroticism;…

— H. P. Lovecraft

Naturally one would rather be a broad artist with power to evoke beauty from every phase of experience--but when one unmistakably isn't…

— H. P. Lovecraft

If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on…

— H. P. Lovecraft

I have concluded that Literature is no proper pursuit for a gentleman and that Writing ought never to be consider'd but as…

— H. P. Lovecraft

The man or nation of high culture may acknowledge to great lengths the restraints imposed by conventions and honour, but beyond a…

— H. P. Lovecraft