36 Ghost Quotes to Send Shivers up Your Spine

Transparent, white, and floating around in the afterlife, the word 'ghost' can conjure up childhood images of Casper, a friendly and animated ghost. Otherwise, you may also receive flashbacks to horrific ghost movies such as 'The Conjuring.' Either way, this unknown afterlife still holds a lot of mystery. Explore it with the following 36 quotes.

The paranormal has formed part of many cultures and remains integrated into our lives through professed psychics, telling scary stories around fires and scores of entertainment. While many see otherworldly stories and creatures as unfavorable, some shed a positive light on them, claiming that these apparent beings do not necessarily come with bad intent.

One paranormal entity that haunts our psyches and cultures is ghosts. Read the following 36 quotes to learn about the ghosts that could be haunting us in the physical world and those that dwell inside us.

Stephen King’s quote: "Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." | Image: AmoDays

Quotes on the Ghosts That Haunt Us Within

"Our feet are planted in the real world, but we dance with angels and ghosts." — John Cameron Mitchell

"I carry the memories of the ghosts of a place called Vietnam—the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers." — Tim O'Brien

"Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what." ― Salman Rushdie

"The first step is for man to cease to be the slave of man. The second is to cease to be the slave of the monsters of his own creation, the ghosts and phantoms of the air." ― Robert Green Ingersoll

"An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself." ― Charles Dickens

John Cameron Mitchell’s quote: "Our feet are planted in the real world, but we dance with angels and ghosts." | Image: AmoDays

"The ghosts you chase, you never catch." ― John Malkovich

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." ― Stephen King

"Conscience is no more than the dead speaking to us." ― Jim Carroll

"If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts." ― Adam Duritz

Tim O'Brien’s quote: "I carry the memories of the ghosts of a place called Vietnam—the people of Vietnam, my fellow soldiers." | Image: AmoDays

Quotes on the Ghosts That Haunt Us in the Physical Realm

"I gasped when I saw them. Now that they were in the light, they were transparent―fully transparent … They were, in fact, ghosts: man-shaped stains on the brightness of that air." — C. S. Lewis

"The room turned dim. Huge, cloudy, human-looking shapes bellied up in all four corners and advanced on Sophie and Michael, howling as they came. The howls began as moaning horror and went up to despairing brays and then up again to screams of pain and terror. Sophie pressed her hands to her ears, but the screams pressed through her hands, louder and louder still, more horrible every second. Calcifer shrank hurriedly down in the grate and flickered his way under his lowest log. Michael grabbed Sophie by her elbow and dragged her to the door." — Diana Wynne Jones

"Never walk near the bed; to a ghost, your ankle is your most vulnerable part—once in bed, you're safe; he may lie around under the bed all night, but you're safe as daylight. If you still have doubts, pull the blanket over your head." — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Quotes on the Ghosts of Lover's Past

Rob Montgomery’s quote: "The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this, you keep them alive." | Image: AmoDays

"Romance like a ghost escapes touching; it is always where you are not, not where you are. The interview or conversation was prose at the time, but it is poetry in the memory." — George William Curtis

"I long to talk with some old lover's ghost, Who died before the god of love was born." — John Donne

"The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this, you keep them alive." ― Rob Montgomery

Quotes on Believing or Not Believing

Laurie Halse Anderson’s quote: "In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves." | Image: AmoDays

"I'm an atheist, and I don't believe in ghosts." ― Ram Gopal Varma

"Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do." ― Michael Ende

"Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, of mathematics, are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing is a human invention, including the idea that it isn't a human invention. The world has no existence whatsoever outside the human imagination. It's all a ghost, and in antiquity, was so recognized as a ghost, the whole blessed world we live in... Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past." ― Robert M. Pirsig

"All a skeptic is is someone who hasn't had an experience yet." ― Jason Hawes

"Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them." ― Ruskin Bond

C. S. Lewis’ quote: "I gasped when I saw them. Now that they were in the light, they were transparent―fully transparent … They were, in fact, ghosts: man-shaped stains on the brightness of that air." | Image: AmoDays

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." ― Joseph Conrad

"In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves." ― Laurie Halse Anderson

Quirky and Funny Quotes on Ghosts

"If each dead person became a ghost, there'd be more than 100 billion of them haunting us all. Creepy, but cool." — Neil deGrasse Tyson

"I like to say I believe in ghosts, so I don't get haunted by one." — Ella Henderson

"'He was trying to tell me something.' Derek snorted. 'Aren't they all? Must be a rule in the ghost handbook—if in danger of evaporating, make sure you're in the middle of a dire pronouncement.'" ― Kelley Armstrong

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s quote: "If each dead person became a ghost, there'd be more than 100 billion of them haunting us all. Creepy, but cool." | Image: AmoDays

Ghostly One-Liners to Haunt Your Nightmares

"The memory fades, and I'm left hanging on to the ghosts of his words." — Marie Lu

"The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies." ― Neil Gaiman

"The ghosts of things that never happened are worse than the ghosts of things that did." ― L.M. Montgomery

Marie Lu’s quote: "The memory fades, and I'm left hanging on to the ghosts of his words." | Image: AmoDays

"I have always been interested in the paranormal and afterlife, everything from ghosts to angels. I think that everyone has that curiosity of the great unknown." — Hilary Duff

"Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims." ― Judith Lewis Herman

"I'm trying not to move. It's just your ghost passing through." ― Tori Amos

Hilary Duff’s quote: "I have always been interested in the paranormal and afterlife, everything from ghosts to angels. I think that everyone has that curiosity of the great unknown." | Image: AmoDays

As we can see, whether we believe or not in the physical manifestation of ghosts, the idea of them still plays a role in teaching us about our inner worlds, love, and so much more.

The question you need to ask yourself is, what or who is haunting you? What are you not facing in your past or mind that needs to come to the surface? We all have skeletons in our closets and ghosts in our past.

To let go of what's been following you, read these 58 looking-back quotes to exhale the weight of the past.