32 'The Haunting of Hill House' Quotes from the Greatest Horror Story Ever Told

Shirley Jackson's gothic 1959 masterpiece "The Haunting of Hill House" became a cult classic and the measure of excellence in the horror genre since, and those eerie words still raise a shiver 60 years later.

"The Haunting of Hill House" has long been considered the greatest horror story ever, inspiring iconic authors like Stephen King. In 2018 Netflix premiered its adaptation of the 1959 novel to critical acclaim.

What made Jackson's original story so powerful was its subtlety, the slow-burn mounting terror, and those gut-wrenching words that describe it so well.

Shirley Jackson's quote: "It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people." | Image: Amodays

'The Haunting of Hill House' Quotes on The House That Stood Alone

"The face of Hill House seemed awake, with a watchfulness from the blank windows and a touch of glee in the eyebrow of a cornice." — Shirley Jackson

"It watches. The house. It watches every move you make." — Nell

"All I could think of when I got a look at the place from the outside was what fun it would be to stand out there and watch it burn down." — Shirley Jackson

Nell's quote "It watches. The house. It watches every move you make." | Image: AmoDays

"The house was vile. She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once." — Shirley Jackson

"Hill House has an impressive list of tragedies connected with it, but then, most old houses have. People have to live and die somewhere, after all." — Shirley Jackson

"Well, how do you gentlemen like living in a haunted house?" — Shirley Jackson

"Hill house has a reputation for insistent hospitality."— Dr. Montague

"It is really unbelievably difficult to get accurate information about a haunted house." — Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson's quote:"Am I walking toward something I should be running away from?" | Image: AmoDays

'The Haunting of Hill House' Quotes Gripped by Fear

"Am I walking toward something I should be running away from?" — Shirley Jackson

"To learn what we fear is to learn who we are. Horror defies our boundaries and illuminates our souls." — Shirley Jackson

"Fear and guilt are sisters." — Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson's quote: "Fear and guilt are sisters." | Image: AmoDays

"It's perfectly fine, Luke said, perfectly fine. It gives me an excuse to have a drink in the middle of the night." — Shirley Jackson

Wherever "she goes, she will only find the same hell she was running away from." — Shirley Jackson

"The menace of the supernatural is that it attacks where modern minds are weakest, where we have abandoned our protective armor of superstition and have no substitute defense." — Shirley Jackson

"You are the last person who should ever step foot in that house because of what you wrote and how you wrote it." — Hugh

Shirley Jackson's quote: "The menace of the supernatural is that it attacks where modern minds are weakest." | Source: AmoDays

'The Haunting of Hill House' Quotes on the Occult and the Ghosts

"The menace of the supernatural is that it attacks where modern minds are weakest, where we have abandoned our protective armor of superstition and have no substitute defense." — Shirley Jackson

"People are always so anxious to get things out into the open where they can put a name to them, even a meaningless name, so long as it has something of a scientific ring." — Shirley Jackson

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills." — Shirley Jackson

"Now you stand there, and you talk about ghosts and spirits. And you sell tickets for the privilege. And yet you don't believe in any of it." — Nell

Shirley Jackson's quote: "Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills." | Image: AmoDays

“I've seen a lot of ghosts. Just not the way you think." — Steven

"When we die, we turn into stories; and every time someone tells one of those stories, it’s like we're still here for them."— Olivia

"Sometimes the people who knock you down never turn once to look." — Shirley Jackson

"Once they have trapped you into being like everyone else, you will never see your cup of stars again." — Shirley Jackson

Shirley Jackson's quote: "The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain." | Source: AmoDays

"Journeys end in lovers' meeting; I have spent an all but sleepless night, I have told lies and made a fool of myself, and the very air tastes like wine." — Shirley Jackson

"Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut." — Shirley Jackson

"Nell didn't kill herself; the house did. You don't understand Hill House, Steve; you never did." — Hugh

"Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut." — Shirley Jackson

"The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain." — Shirley Jackson

Hugh's quote: "You don't understand Hill House, Steve; you never did." | Image: AmoDays

"Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there walked alone." — Shirley Jackson

"Those who walked there, walked together." — Narrator, "The Haunting of Hill House"

Shirley Jackson's quote: "Whatever walked there walked alone." | Image: AmoDays

The series tweaks the novel's premise and adds several new characters. The originals were Eleanor, Theodora, Dr. John Montague, and his wife, Luke Sanderson, Arthur Parker, and the Dudleys.

Love horror stories? We do, too. Read one of our short stories about a similar mysterious abandoned house, and how the new occupant tries to break the curse.

If you're among those who like the horror genre, but love the thriller genre more, you might enjoy our collection of 5 unmissable thriller movies.