Halloween Quotes & Sayings

Spooky Sayings and Ghoulish Gems to Celebrate a Scary Night

What is it about spooky Halloween quotes that we love so much? That quick jump, the shiver up the spine, then the laughter at our own silliness. Maybe we just like being scared!

I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it. ~Carolyn MacCullough, "Once a Witch"

Some of the best Halloween quotes come from some pretty great books — think Frankenstein, Dracula, The Hound of the Baskervilles, several Shakespeare plays. Macbeth and Hamlet still reign as two of the great ghost stories of all time. And pretty much anything by Edgar Allan Poe can get you in the spooky mood.

We've come up with a long list of spooky, scary (and just plain silly) Halloween Quotes and Halloween Sayings —but WARNING: Don't Read Them Alone.

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Fear has many eyes and can see things underground.
~Miguel de Cervantes

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Nothing beats a haunted moonlit night on All Hallows Eve.... And on this fatal night, at this witching time, the starless sky laments black and unmoving. The somber hues of an ominous, dark forest are suddenly illuminated under the emerging face of the full moon.
~Kim Elizabeth

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At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below.
~Theodosia Garrison

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These five Halloween quotes are all from Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel "Dracula." First published in 1897, it created a whole new literary genre.

There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part. "I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome...." "I never drink ... wine." "My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side." As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight.

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula

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Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.
As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor."
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

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My candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open....
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

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The Witchiest of All Witches

William Shakespeare must have created the scariest, wartiest and witchiest of all witches in "Macbeth." Imagine the hags brewing their noxious potion over a steaming kettle in these prefect Halloween quotes:

Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,— For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time! Round about the caldron go;.... Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

And other witchy quotes to help you feel right at home on your broom:

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Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
~Dorothy to Glinda, in The Wizard of Oz

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WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil.
(2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil.
~Ambrose Bierce

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I should have no compassion on these witches; I should burn them all.
~Martin Luther

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'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare

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Let's move on to something lighter. Halloween quotes can be light-hearted, teasing and funny.

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Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story. ~Mason Coole Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoke to. ~Richard Harris Barham When I was a kid my family was really poor and I remember one Halloween I wanted to dress up really scary and my parents came home with a duck costume. I wore that costume for years! I hated it. ~R.L. Stine Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold. ~Judith Olney

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Sadly, Halloween, with our good-natured attempts to protect the little ones from the increasingly dangerous traffic and the increasingly sick adults, has become an utter bore.
~Lauren Springer

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I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids.
~Robert Brault

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Hold on, man. We don't go anywhere with "scary," "spooky," "haunted," or "forbidden" in the title.
~Shaggy in Scooby-Doo

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Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special.
~Chris Rock

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"I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do." ~The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz" Just tell them Boris sent you. ~Bobby Pickett, "Monster Mash" I think if human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween. Wouldn't life be more interesting that way? ~Douglas Coupland, "The Gum Thief" I wish everyday could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks. ~R.J. Palacio Where there is no imagination there is no horror. ~Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

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Now go put on your witches' hat, your ghosty goblin sheet, your feathers and furs and scary hide-behinds. It's Halloween! And Quotes and Sayings have put you in the mood!

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