35+ Literary Halloween Quotes from Books (Gothic Magic!)

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…”

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” (1845) Public Domain

“Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.”

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” (1845) Public Domain

“True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am.”

— Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) Public Domain

“Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.”

— Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” (1818) Public Domain

“Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!”

— Bram Stoker, “Dracula” (1897) Public Domain

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

— H.P. Lovecraft, “Supernatural Horror in Literature” (1927) Public Domain

“Every old house keeps a ghost or two in its floorboards.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“There is a certain beauty in the dark, if you sit with it long enough.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Some stories only come alive after the candles are lit.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The gothic heart knows that fear and wonder are cousins.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“A chill in the air is just autumn telling secrets.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“What is a shadow but a story that hasn’t been told yet?”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“A creaking door is a novel’s way of saying hello.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The gothic novel is a candle held up to the dark.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“…man is not truly one, but truly two.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” (1886) Public Domain

“The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head.”

— Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) Public Domain

“October is the bookmark between summer and the long, lovely dark.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Every fallen leaf is a page turning.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The best books smell like rain, candle smoke, and old paper.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Spooky season is just the world asking you to slow down and listen.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Read by the fire and let the ghosts between the pages keep you company.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“A good scary story is a hug for the part of you that likes to be startled.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The dark outside the window is the same dark that lives in every great book.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Some chapters are meant to be read in October.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The creak of the floorboard and the turn of the page — the season’s favorite duet.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Let the words wrap around you like a well-worn blanket.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Autumn reads are the ones that make you pull the covers a little higher.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“There is a language in the fog, and the reader is the one who translates it.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“A bookshelf in October is a door left slightly open.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The most atmospheric rooms are lit by candlelight and well-thumbed pages.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Read something that makes the hair on your arms stand up — then read it again.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Every library holds a little of the night in its quiet corners.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The best Halloween is spent between two covers.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Some sentences settle on you like a cold hand on the shoulder.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“A cup of tea, a creaking house, and a book that knows how to haunt.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“The page is a window into a darker, lovelier October.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Book lovers know: the spookiest place is always between the lines.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Let the story hold you the way the fog holds the streetlamps.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“An atmospheric book is a season you can carry in your bag.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original

“Close the book gently; some ghosts sleep on the last page.”

— Original — Kaveesh Mommy Original