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Quotations for Halloween
On Halloween, witches come true;
Wild ghosts escape from dreams...
~Nicholas Gordon, poemsforfree.com
I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, but there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
The rhythms of freak are ruled by the holiday calendar, and specifically by Halloween, which as we all know, can be traced back to All Hallows' Eve, an ancient religious rite in which priests raced around the streets of Dublin throwing snack-size Snickers bars at impoverished children. ~Steve Almond, "Night of the Living Freak," Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, 2004
A pumpkin in pies
We all of us prize;
And surely no pumpkin
a boy would affright.
But a jack-lantern light
Is a terrible sight
And scares all the children
that walk out at night.
~L. Frank Baum, Father Goose, His Book, 1899
Oh! fruit loved of boyhood — the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling;
When wild, ugly faces we carved on its skin,
Glaring out through the dark, with a candle within...
~John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), "The Pumpkin"
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead...
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
~William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1599 [II, 2, Calpurnia]
October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. ~Rainbow Rowell, Attachments, 2011
Peter is such a candy freak. I knew he'd stay out all night if he could... This was his biggest night of the year. Bigger than Christmas. When he got home, he'd turn the shopping bag over on his rug and dump out all the candy. Then he'd sort it for hours, making piles of one candy bar and then another. He's so totally mental. Sometimes when he was smaller he'd actually roll on his back in his Halloween candy, like a dog. ~R.L. Stine, Goosebumps Hall of Horrors: Night of the Giant Everything, 2011
Eat, drink, and be scary. ~Rosie O'Donnell
There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com
The Jack-o-lanterns gave off a soft orange glow, flickering in the autumn breeze. ~Kathryn Hills, Haunting Highland House, 2016
Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...
~Nicholas Gordon, poemsforfree.com
Being sure to stock up on loads of sweets for Halloween so you have something to eat while hiding in the wardrobe ~Rob Temple, @SoVeryBritish, tweet, 2019, verybritishproblems.com
Soon pumpkins, as large as an apple were found.
Hidden, under the leaves on the ground...
When the farmer gathered many a load,
Which carefully, in his barn was bestowed;
Some fed the cows — some were made into pies —
And some, Jack o'lanterns, with fiery eyes.
~Eleanor W. Talbot, Jack o'Lantern and Other Rhymes, 1883
I'm a great lover of visual art and I will happily discuss the color and texture of Van Gogh's Starry Night... But I can think of nothing on earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night, which, for me, was ten to fifteen pounds of candy, a riot of colored wrappers and hopeful fonts, snub-nosed chocolate bars and SweeTARTS, the seductive rattle of Jujyfruits and Good & Plenty and lollipop sticks all akimbo, the foil ends of mini LifeSavers packs twinkling like dimes, and a thick sugary perfume rising up from the pillowcase.
And more so, the pleasure of pouring out the contents onto the rug in the TV room, of cataloging the take according to a strict Freak Hierarchy, calling for all chocolate products to be immediately quarantined, sorted, and closely guarded, with higher-quality fruit chews and caramels next, then hard candies, and last of all anything organic (the loathsome raisins). A brief period of barter with my brothers might ensue. For the most part, I simply lay amid my trove and occasionally massed the candy into a pile which I could sort of dive into, à la Scrooge McDuck and his gold ducats. ~Steve Almond, "Night of the Living Freak," Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, 2004
As the warm glow flickers from jack-o-lanterns, dark secrets are brought to light. Terrifying creatures rule the night and strike fear into eager souls who relish the unknown. ~James E. Garvey, The Legend of MacNawckett Castle, 2001
Never let your kids buy an off-the-shelf Halloween costume. Forbid it, no matter how close you may be to the witching hour. Instead, help them make their own. Encourage them to use their imaginations and their ingenuity. Show them that what can be created is often better than what can be bought. And besides, don't the darkest, most frightening things live inside us anyway? ~Joe Kita, "What I Know" (The Best Halloween Costume), Wisdom of Our Fathers, 1999
When the twilight comes down on all Hallowe'en
Then we fly on the wings of the night
Over land, through the streets, in each home we are seen,
And are known everywhere by our light!
For our eyes are like stars and our noses aglow,
With the candles that make us so bright
And our mouths are so jagged none can but know
We are Jack-o'-Lanterns all right!
~Jane A. Stewart, "Hallowe'en Exercise," in American Primary Teacher, 1914
Today, of course, our paranoia about child safety has reached this fabulous zenith whereby kids are only allowed to trick-or-treat accompanied by an adult... But back in the blithe, porno-soaked, latch-key seventies, the idea of trick-or-treating with a parent in tow was unthinkable — like publicly disclosing a preference for Barry Manilow. And yes, we heard plenty of tales about creepy old men sinking razors into caramel apples. But this only added an allure of risk to the endeavor. ~Steve Almond, "Night of the Living Freak," Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, 2004
He ran full speed up the front lawn to a brightly lit house with a big grinning jack-o'-lantern in the front window. A flickering candle inside it made its jagged eyes glow. ~R.L. Stine, Goosebumps Hall of Horrors: Night of the Giant Everything, 2011
Hark! Hark to the wind! 'T is the night, they say,
When all souls come back from the far away—
The dead, forgotten this many a day!
~Virna Sheard (1862–1943), "Hallowe'en," c.1910
Gnome and elf and fairy,
Witch and ghost make merry
On this last of dear October's days.
~Lettie C. Van Derveer, Halloween Happenings, 1921
'Tis night for revel, set apart
To reillume the darkened heart,
And rout the hosts of dole.
'Tis night when Goblin, Elf, and Fay,
Come dancing in their best array,
To prank and royster on their way,
And ease the troubled soul.
~John Kendrick Bangs, "Hallowe'en," Echoes of Cheer, 1912
Hide the radiant jewel under thy cloak, sayest thou? Why, it will gleam through the holes, and make thee look like a jack-o'-lantern! ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Carbuncle," 1835 [a little altered
May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright
Of soft and golden hue
Pierce through the future's veil and show
What fate now holds for you.
By goblins of the cornfield stark
By witches dancing on the green
By pumpkins grinning in the dark
I wish you luck this Hallowe'en.
~Postcard from the early 1900s
A grandparent pretends he doesn't know who you are on Halloween. ~Erma Bombeck, "Love Is a Grandparent," 1974
On Halloween, what bothers some
About these witches, is how come
In sailing, through the air, like bats
They never seem, to lose their hats?...
Another thing: if brooms can fly,
Do witches keep them handy-by
To sweep the kitchen floor with, say?
Or do they have them locked away
For private passage through the sky?
~David McCord (1897–1997), "Witch's Broom Notes"
Funny faces, tall black hats,
Horns and ghosts and witches' cats.
We have many good things to eat
With boys at the door saying, "Trick or treat!"
~Julia Ann Andersen, in American Childhood, 1946
Frights and chills
Spooky thrills
Candy and nuts
Seedy pumpkin guts
Tricking for treats
Treasure bag of sweets
A floating apparition
Imaginative night vision
Zombie, werewolf, vampire
Witches' cauldrons lit afire
Creepy ghost and spectre
Hooded Reaper—soul collector
~Terri Guillemets, "Halloween Night," 2009
...that hollow feeling in his guts resurfacing again. He'd felt like a jack-o'-lantern for the past few days, as if his guts had been yanked out with a fork and dumped in a heap while a grinning smile stayed plastered on his face. ~Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes, 2008
Every available inch of his face busts into a smile... This guy looks unabashedly jack-o-lantern happy... ~Jandy Nelson, The Sky is Everywhere, 2011
Hobgoblins know the proper way to dance:
Arms akimbo, loopy legs askew,
Leaping into darkness with delight,
Lusting for the ecstasy of fright,
Open to the charm of horrors new...
~Nicholas Gordon, poemsforfree.com, c.2003
Bring forth the raisins and the nuts—
To-night All-Hallow's Spectre struts
Along the moonlit way...
~John Kendrick Bangs, "Hallowe'en," Echoes of Cheer, 1912
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