Shirley Jackson

I assume then, that you have no real faith in the fondness any of the rest of us may feel for you?''None,'…

— Shirley Jackson

A pretty sight, a lady with a book.

— Shirley Jackson

It might be suggested, and not easily disproven that anything, no matter how exotic, can be believed by someone. On the other…

— Shirley Jackson

“She is hysterical,” said Mrs. Halloran. “Slap her quite firmly in the face.”

— Shirley Jackson

“Almost any house, caught unexpectedly or at an odd angle, can turn a deeply humorous look on a watching person; even a…

— Shirley Jackson

I wonder if I could eat a child if I had the chance.' 'I doubt if I could cook one,' said Constance.

— Shirley Jackson

“Hill House, not sane, stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly,…

— Shirley Jackson

“I thought,” Eleanor said carefully, “that I might even look around. Old houses are usually cheap, you know, and it’s fun to…

— Shirley Jackson

“She had never driven far alone before. The notion of dividing her lovely journey into miles and hours was silly; she saw…

— Shirley Jackson

“Maybe you'll get onto the other side of that mirror in the new clean world. Maybe you'll look through from the other…

— Shirley Jackson

“Mrs. Dudley,” the doctor said, putting down his fork, “an admirable soufflé.”

— Shirley Jackson

Bridge is a game for the undivided intellect.

— Shirley Jackson

It watches," he added suddenly. "The house. It watches every move you make.

— Shirley Jackson

“I am tired of writing dainty little biographical things that pretend that I am a trim little housewife ... I live in…

— Shirley Jackson

“The trees around and overhead were so thick that it was always dry inside and on Sunday morning I lay there with…

— Shirley Jackson

Oh Constance, we are so happy.

— Shirley Jackson

“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

“o live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by…

— Shirley Jackson

I shall weave a suit of leaves. At once. With acorns for buttons.

— Shirley Jackson

“Nothing is hard to do unless you get upset or excited about it.”

— Shirley Jackson

“Where, she wondered, is Elizabeth? Where in the tightness of the skin over her arms and legs, in the narrow bones of…

— Shirley Jackson

I was wondering about my eyes; one of my eyes--the left--saw everything golden and yellow and orange, and the other eye saw…

— Shirley Jackson

“If I am not the legal resident of the apartment you cannot evict me. You cannot evict Mrs. Tuttle, who is the…

— Shirley Jackson

“Poor things, she thought - do they have to spend all this energy just to surround me? It seemed pitiful that these…

— Shirley Jackson

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by…

— Shirley Jackson