H. P. Lovecraft Quotes

Author Image

H. P. Lovecraft

Profession : Novelist

Birth : August 20, 1890

One superlatively important effect of wide reading is the enlargement of vocabulary which always accompanies it.

H. P. Lovecraft

I could not write about 'ordinary people' because I am not in the least interested in them.

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

Children, old crones, peasants, and dogs ramble; cats and philosophers stick to their point.

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

Heaven knows where I'll end up - but it's a safe bet that I'll never be at the top of anything! Nor do I particularly care to be.

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

All of my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and emotions have no validity or significance in the cosmos-at-large.

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

I have concluded that Literature is no proper pursuit for a gentleman and that Writing ought never to be consider'd but as an elegant Accomplishment to be indulg'd in with infrequency and Discrimination.

H. P. Lovecraft

There be those who say that things and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare not say, myself, but I will tell of The Street.

H. P. Lovecraft

It is easy to remove the mind from harping on the lost illusion of immortality. The disciplined intellect fears nothing and craves no sugar-plum at the day's end, but is content to accept life and serve society as best it may.

H. P. Lovecraft

I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about.

H. P. Lovecraft

It is a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude.

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

Write out the story - rapidly, fluently, and not too critically - following the second or narrative-order synopsis. Change incidents and plot whenever the developing process seems to suggest such change, never being bound by any previous design.

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

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

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

H. P. Lovecraft

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

H. P. Lovecraft