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" We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. "

H. P. Lovecraft

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" The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Plots may be simple or complex, but suspense, and climactic progress from one incident to another, are essential. Every incident in a fictional work should have some bearing on the climax or denouement, and any denouement which is not the inevitable result of the preceding incidents is awkward and unliterary. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Fear is our deepest and strongest emotion, and the one which best lends itself to the creation of nature-defying illusions. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Bunch together a group of people deliberately chosen for strong religious feelings, and you have a practical guarantee of dark morbidities expressed in crime, perversion, and insanity. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" An excellent habit to cultivate is the analytical study of the King James Bible. For simple yet rich and forceful English, this masterly production is hard to equal; and even though its Saxon vocabulary and poetic rhythm be unsuited to general composition, it is an invaluable model for writers on quaint or imaginative themes. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Certain of Poe's tales possess an almost absolute perfection of artistic form which makes them veritable beacon-lights in the province of the short story. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Imagination is a very potent thing, and in the uneducated often usurps the place of genuine experience. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Adulthood is hell. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" I couldn't live a week without a private library - indeed, I'd part with all my furniture and squat and sleep on the floor before I'd let go of the 1500 or so books I possess. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" We call ourselves a dog's 'master' - but who ever dared to call himself the 'master' of a cat? We own a dog - he is with us as a slave and inferior because we wish him to be. But we entertain a cat - he adorns our hearth as a guest, fellow-lodger, and equal because he wishes to be there. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" We should perceive that man's period of historical existence, a period so short that his physical constitution has not been altered in the slightest degree, is insufficient to allow of any considerable mental change. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Horrors, I believe, should be original - the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Horror and the unknown or the strange are always closely connected so that it is hard to create a convincing picture of shattered natural law or cosmic alienage or 'outsideness' without laying stress on the emotion of fear. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Science, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species - if separate species we be - for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" The real lover of cats is one who demands a clearer adjustment to the universe than ordinary household platitudes provide; one who refuses to swallow the sentimental notion that all good people love dogs, children, and horses while all bad people dislike and are disliked by such. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" One cannot be too careful in the selection of adjectives for descriptions. Words or compounds which describe precisely, and which convey exactly the right suggestions to the mind of the reader, are essential. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Man's respect for the imponderables varies according to his mental constitution and environment. Through certain modes of thought and training, it can be elevated tremendously, yet there is always a limit. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Very few minds are strictly normal, and all religious fanatics are marked with abnormalities of various sorts. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" If I could create an ideal world, it would be an England with the fire of the Elizabethans, the correct taste of the Georgians, and the refinement and pure ideals of the Victorians. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" For correct writing, the cultivation of patience and mental accuracy is essential. Throughout the young author's period of apprenticeship, he must keep reliable dictionaries and textbooks at his elbow; eschewing as far as possible that hasty extemporaneous manner of writing which is the privilege of more advanced students. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" In writing a weird story, I always try very carefully to achieve the right mood and atmosphere and place the emphasis where it belongs. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" One can never produce anything as terrible and impressive as one can awesomely hint about. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" The 'punch' of a truly weird tale is simply some violation or transcending of fixed cosmic law - an imaginative escape from palling reality - hence, phenomena rather than persons are the logical 'heroes.' "

H. P. Lovecraft

" The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from everyday life. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Even when the characters are supposed to be accustomed to the wonder, I try to weave an air of awe and impressiveness corresponding to what the reader should feel. A casual style ruins any serious fantasy. "

H. P. Lovecraft

" Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. "

H. P. Lovecraft