I am, indeed, an absolute materialist so far as actual belief goes; with not a shred of credence in any form of supernaturalism—religion, spiritualism, transcendentalism, metempsychosis, or immortality.

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.

The ignorant and the deluded are, I think, in a strange way to be envied. That which is not known of does not trouble us, while an imagined but insubstantial peril does not harm us. To know the truths behind reality is a far greater burden.

It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer.

incurable lover of the grotesque

There are horrors beyond life's edge that we do not suspect, and once in a while man's evil prying calls them just within our range.

Ultimate horror often paralyses memory in a merciful way.