It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house ; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed.

I wonder if I could eat a child if I had the chance.' 'I doubt if I could cook one,' said Constance.

The first book is the book you have to write to get back at your parents; the book you always had in you. Once you get that out of your way, you can start writing books.

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.

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.

I shall weave a suit of leaves. At once. With acorns for buttons.

I can't help it when people are frightened," says Merricat. "I always want to frighten them more.