Materialization are often best produced in rooms where there are books. I cannot think of any time when materialization was in any way hampered by the presence of books.

— Shirley Jackson

Mrs. Arnold," the doctor said, coming around the desk, "we're not going to help things any this way."" What is going to help?" Mrs. Arnold said. "Is everyone really crazy but me?"" Mrs. Arnold," the doctor said severely, "I want you to get hold of yourself. In a disoriented world like ours today, alienation from reality frequently--""Disoriented," Mrs. Arnold said. She stood up. "Alienation," she said. "Reality." Before the doctor could stop her she walked to the door and opened it. "Reality," she said, and went out.

— Shirley Jackson

My dear, how can I make you perceive that there is no danger where there is nothing but love and understanding?

— Shirley Jackson

Name?" the desk clerk said to me politely, her pencil poised." Name," I said vaguely. I remembered, and told her." Age?" she asked. "Sex? Occupation?"" Writer," I said." Housewife," she said." Writer," I said." I'll just put down housewife," she said.

— Shirley Jackson

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.

— Shirley Jackson

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, but some, to dream.

— 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, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

— 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, holding darkness within. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

— Shirley Jackson

None of these things bothered us excessively; we have always been a family that carries bewilderment like a banner, and odd new confusions do not actually seem to be any more bewildering than the ones we invent for ourselves; moreover, in each of these cases it was easier to believe that nothing had happened, or that it was of no importance anyway.

— Shirley Jackson

Not one of us, even after last night, can say the word "ghost" without a little involuntary smile. No, 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