I’m so excited to share my favorite quotes from the books I read last year. This is the eighth year in a row I’ve done this! It’s always fun to look back and remember the quotes that stuck with me.
Let’s dive in!
My Favorite Book Quotes from 2024 –
Most people stepped aside and let the loudest voices rule, so long as those loud voices persecuted someone else. For most, it was easy to sit back and let other people suffer.
— Elogona by Samantha Kolesnik
The forest looked so beautiful from the attic window, but out here, it was terrifying. Every branch looked like a skeletal hand, reaching out for her with gnarled fingers. The frozen earth beneath her feet became treacherous, a mix of potholes and fallen limbs that threatened to trip her with each step.
— Kosa by John Durgin
This isn’t a bear or a saber-toothed tiger or even the sound of rushing footsteps behind her on a darkened street. But that primal part of her brain certainly recognizes it as a danger and wants nothing the fuck to do with it.
— Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Billy’s grin fell to the floor so fast it just about made a noise.
— The Demon of Devil’s Cavern by Brennan LaFaro
Block Island. From the Charlestown beach, on a clear day, a person could make out the outlines of the island. It had two lighthouses on each side, two little thumbtacks. Charlie imagined plucking them and watching the island curl up into a scroll.
— On a Clear Day, You Can See Block Island by Gage Greenwood
Death is a promise that cannot be made pretty.
— Eynhallow by Tim McGregor
Below us, the river flowed as it had for thousands of years, oblivious to the three pairs of eyes that now gazed down into its dark depths.
— Those Who Dwell in Mordenhyrst Hall by Catherine Cavendish
Nature creates horrors enough all by itself.
— What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
Nature, it seems, will find a way to protect herself, even if she must cheat.
— Countdown to Extinction by Calvin Demmer from The Horror Collection: Sci-Fi Edition presented by KJK Publishing
The policeman thought that his companion was as crazy as a soup sandwich, and had told the man as much.
— The Revenge of the Clowns by Caesar Ruell
“You can choose to believe or not to believe, but that won’t matter if you go out there. Monsters don’t need you to believe in them. You’re just safer if you do.”
— It Came From The Lake by Glenn Rolfe
The Port Master rubbed his hair back, thinking on if he should just wait until the Navy arrived and have them deal with this insanity, but curiosity was a seduction that most men who lived by the sea had trouble curbing or praying away, and he was no exception.
— In Our Tears, In The Sea by Matthew Lutton
I edged through the crowd, the people jostling to occupy the space after passed, like sand squeezing through the waist of an hourglass.
— Shadow of the Hidden by Kev Harrison
Some things are so obvious to children that they blink in disbelief when adults fail to understand.
— Rug by Graham Masterton from Werewolves (Classic Monsters Book 2) presented by KJK Publishing
Are we not all just as capable of evil as we are good? Is it a choice or destiny?
— “Harry’s Inevitable Extinction” by Glenn Rolfe from Werewolves (Classic Monsters Book 2) presented by KJK Publishing
But I knew full well how there was some unnamable urge rooted in every human being that compelled us to drag others into our suffering, our despair.
— Seedling, from This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca
I’m not wearing anything except someone else’s insides.
— Feral by Gemma Amor
It pointed face down and flew so fast that I thought, in a matter of a few seconds, my face would eat the concrete. I quickly imagined my head smashing the black ground, my teeth crunching, and my brown eyes popping out. But it adjusted its vertical position to horizontal at the last moment, leaving me out of breath and without a clue as to what would happen next.
— Mothman Haze by E.C. Hanson
The town had nothing left for me. My mouth tasted bitter when I inhaled the air, the scent of the past filling my nostrils. I hated every street corner, every shop.
— Do You Remember?, from Into the Darkness: Stories Volume 1 by Steve Stred
Every town has that house.
You know the one.
— Every Town Has That House, from Into the Darkness: Stories Volume 1 by Steve Stred
Her face is a sheet of parchment that has not yet been written on.
— The House At the End of Lacelean Street by Catherine McCarthy
One couldn’t see the precarious tilt of the porch, or the grime on the curtains sewn by Grandma Maighréad. She’d died thirty years ago, but her yellow curtains still hung in the windows, year after year, holding on. Surviving, like the rest of the O’Malleys.
— The Garbage People by Jill Girardi, from We’re Not Ourselves Today by Lydia Prime and Jill Girardi
It’s two in the morning. I could have sworn I felt someone breathing on my face.
— Little Pig by Lydia Prime, from We’re Not Ourselves Today by Lydia Prime and Jill Girardi
The rectangular box of a building was just off the path, tucked underneath and between a few cedar trees. Shrubs, grass, and time helped obscure the once brightly painted structure; the yellows faded to a dingy tan and the reds into a browning rust color. The shingled roof was covered in moss and tree litter, and had a noticeable sag. Fragments of glass along a pair of sills implied the place used to be closed up with windows. But no longer.
— Reanimated Rex by Alex Ebenstein
Blood outside a living body is a life gone slightly wrong.
— Like No Blood by Adrian Speth, from Spectrum: An Autistic Horror Anthology edited by Aquino Loayza & Lor Gislason
Lowering his backpack over the gate, he climbs over after it, a jagged creep of unease spidering up his spine at the night and the quiet and the woods crouched beside him. It’s darker among the trees. Twigs crack beneath his step, and things rustle in the bushes.
— Curse The Darkness by Die Booth, from Spectrum: An Autistic Horror Anthology edited by Aquino Loayza & Lor Gislason
None of this needed to happen. Then again, it never does.
— The Mask It Wears by Sarah Musnicky, from Spectrum: An Autistic Horror Anthology edited by Aquino Loayza & Lor Gislason
The staircase served as the spine of a decaying warehouse-turned-dwelling. Humans latched on to each landing as though they were scavengers, and the last pieces of the carcass had yet to be consumed.
— Neighborly by Aquino Loayza, from Spectrum: An Autistic Horror Anthology edited by Aquino Loayza & Lor Gislason
Her mother turned around in her seat. Only her nose was in focus; the rest of her face was blurry, like a watercolor painting ruined by a tipped rinsing cup.
— Different by Ashley Lezak, from Spectrum: An Autistic Horror Anthology edited by Aquino Loayza & Lor Gislason
In hindsight, a lot of people should have known a lot of things. But unfortunately, the world doesn’t ever run in reverse. And one thing I’ve learned to be a hard truth is that hindsight never proves useful.
— Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert
“Okay. The reason I ask is because the house we’re in looks pretty fucked up. Like someone committed an armed robbery and then maybe a triple homicide happened and then after a few years of rumors milling around town, a bunch of kids had a rager-party in it.”
— Undead Folk by Katherine Silva
The darkness swam like schools of frightened fish in her vision, lurching this way and that.
— Undead Folk by Katherine Silva
It was moving, making no more noise than a thought as it glided through the darkness.
— The Covenant: A Tale of the Antichrist by Tom Lewis
Each room had one way in, one way out, unless you counted the window for a permanent check-out.
— Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper
On that Sunday, the construction finished, champagne toasts were made and while the family wasn’t watching, evil moved in.
— Tendrils from Into the Light: Stories Volume 2 by Steve Stred
Left to your own imagination, nightmares play not only within your head, they become all too real. Almost like you can reach out and touch them, slicing your fingertips on the memories.
— Find Him and Kill Him by Cody J. Thompson
I understand what it’s like when everybody whispers behind your back, when people turn your life into a story without your consent.
— What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman
“With every darkness, there is a light. It might be hard to find; like sometimes the light isn’t very bright or doesn’t carry far, but it’s there.”
— The Vast by Matt Wildasin
So at night, we all pretend to be asleep though we’re far from it, willing ourselves not to peek as the buzzing intensifies. The curiosity almost kills you as much as the fear itself.
— The Peerlings, Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny by K.C. Grifant
Everything in this place was dead, including the silence.
— Grave Danger by Devin Cabrera, The Horror Collection: Topaz Edition by KJK Publishing
Free of pain at the moment, she knows pain is stalking her next movement.
— Reality Squall by Jason Krawczyk
Aileen sighed a breath leaden with stress. She sat at one of the dining tables, staring out at Loch Fuar. No matter the weather, the view always took her breath away; living here was like having access to heaven before you died.
— When Painted With Deceit by Shana Frost
Pregnancy was an unmapped level of hell that people had sugar-coated and she found that deception infuriating.
— A Pretty Intense Case of Abjection, from Picking You Out Of My Teeth by Somer Canon
Nothing mattered except how I felt. My reality was the only reality.
— Evil In Me by Brom
There were a few gnarled trees whose limbs were bent to hover over the graves, like fingers reaching down to snatch up the remains of the unfortunate ones buried nearby.
— In the Land of the Pigs by Caesar Ruell
“Don’t seem like any way to talk about your father.”
“He wasn’t much of a father, or a man.”
“He still alive?”
“No. He killed himself when I was sixteen. Only time he shot anyone who deserved it.”
— The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
Life isn’t always as exciting as fiction, but it can certainly be as strange.
— Perspective by Kevin J. Kennedy from Creatures of the Night: Vicious Vampire Tales by Simon Clark, Kevin J. Kennedy, and Gord Rollo
His heart felt like ice in his chest, as if he sucked in a great gulp of the fall air.
— October by Gregory Bastianelli
It was late afternoon, and while the sun was still bright and vibrant, it dipped closer to the horizon and began to glow gold threatening to leave like a party guest who had their coat on but still made their way from person to person for one last chat.
— Errant Roots by Sonora Taylor
When it’s quiet out and everything has a thick coat of snow, the cold usually has a strangely clean smell. Unless the weather has you congested, a real deep winter can open your sinuses. No pollen. No flowers. No animals. Just that bitterly cold aroma that’s more of an absence of smell than the presence of one.
— The Holly King by Dexter McLeod, from Collected Christmas Horror Shorts IV presented by KJK Publishing
no young Girl should be rewarded with terror in search of adventure
— You Are Not Looking, I Am Right Here, from Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo
“Your blood is really pretty. I’m glad you aren’t keeping it on the inside anymore.”
— The Clown: A Halloween Land Story by Kevin J. Kennedy
I used to cry sick off school when I was out of mascara, but alive is the most any of us can expect to be these days.
— THE BANJAX by Sarah Jones, from After Tomorrow: The Cellar Door Issue #4 edited by Aric Sundquist
The woman in front of me opened her mouth and let out a sound that reminded me of a murder of crows. Maybe it was her version of laughter. It sounded to me like the gates of hell had just been flung open.
— The Stones of Landane by Catherine Cavendish
“The world has always been dangerous, thus the divinity in the act of helping those in need, of putting your own self-interests on the backburner while you see to the needs of those who come to you seeking help. It’s really not a complicated concept. I know you’re afraid. I know the world is a strange place, as it has always been. And I know that there’s simply too much information floating around for frightened people to sort through. Fear overcomes compassion and anger displaces logic.”
— Hospitality, from Halloween My Way by Somer Canon
Running along in the woods, she’d get scraped up by all manner of broken sticks and thorns without noticing. Only when her parents reacted did she finally see and the pain slipped in like a silent passenger along with panic.
— Dead Folk by Katherine Silva
The waves crashed against the shore, and I struggled to listen over them. Everything that had seemed so quiet a moment before now seemed so loud.
— There’s Something Inside Me, from A Flock of Crows: And Other Short Stories by Devin Cabrera
I didn’t know a man could go so pale and still be alive. The only color in his face was his rum blossom nose.
— Stars Shining Darkly by Mercedes M. Yardley
I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his lips, like that smile could’ve gone wider, if he wanted.
— Quit Clowning Around by Clay McLeod Chapman, from Fear of Clowns A Horror Anthology: Coulrophobia Stories edited by Kenneth W. Cain
It’s amazing how fast one can run when death slows down to stare at you.
— Pop by Jonathan Lees, from Fear of Clowns A Horror Anthology: Coulrophobia Stories edited by Kenneth W. Cain
I knelt on the floor in a circle of clowns-of clues, of gifts-and I lit the candle, and I thought about how people are afraid of clowns. But Sarah was right-their only job is to make people smile, laugh. That’s why they exist. It’s the rest of us…we are terrifying. We’re the ones capable of unspeakable horrors.
It’s the ordinary people. The ones so hard to spot.
We taint the good and joyful because we’re undeserving. Because we’re evil.
— Ordinary People by Rachel Harrison, from Fear of Clowns A Horror Anthology: Coulrophobia Stories edited by Kenneth W. Cain
You couldn’t choose the pieces on your chessboard, but you had agency over the moves you made with the ones you did have.
— Christmas Eve Carnage 2: Sprinkles Lives by John Lynch
She shuddered at the sight of the chapless skull, grinning up at her, but she forced herself to quietly mouth a few words for the deceased. Who knew if it meant anything to the dead, but it would mean something to her, at least for the few minutes left to her before she joined him.
— The New Dark Ages, from Yes, I Am A Vampire by Stephen Kozeniewski
Thanks for reading!
For the last seven years, I’ve posted lists of my favorite book quotes. Feel free to check out the previous years below:
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