Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is one of the most influential writers in American literature. Known for his dark poetry and chilling short stories, Poe’s words capture the complexity of human emotion, love, despair, beauty, fear, and mystery.
- “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
- “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
- “There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.”
- “The best things in life make you sweaty.”
- “To observe attentively is to remember distinctly.”
- “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”
- “Even in the grave, all is not lost.”
- “The true genius shudders at incompleteness.”
- “It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.”
- “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
- “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.”
- “Sleep, those little slices of death—how I loathe them.”
- “I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.”
- “The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”
- “There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.”
- “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”
- “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.”
- “The boundaries between night and day, life and death, are as thin as the veil of a dream.”
- “Happiness is not to be found in knowledge, but in ignorance.”
- “In death, there is release.”
- “We loved with a love that was more than love.”
- “Deep in earth my love is lying, and I must weep alone.”
- “Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”
- “In the heaven of her eyes I live.”
- “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.”
- “The most natural, and, consequently, the truest of all poetical themes is Love.”
- “Thou art the man of my secret heart.”
- “Her beauty was the beauty of the dead.”
- “Love like mine can never be forgotten.”
- “Years of love have been forgot, in the hatred of a minute.”
- “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build toward it.”
- “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.”
- “A story should be written to be read in one sitting.”
- “It is the curse of genius that it must dwell in solitude.”
- “I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.”
- “The idea of God, infinity, or spirit stands for the possible attempt at an impossible conception.”
- “A good story cannot be too short.”
- “Words have power beyond the grave.”
- “The true story is not in the words, but in the silence between them.”
- “The writer who neglects structure is lost.”
- “Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.”
- “There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.”
- “The boundaries of the soul are unknown.”
- “Invisible things are the only realities.”
- “The world is a dream, and dreams themselves are dreams.”
- “There are some mysteries which will forever remain unsolved.”
- “The eye, like a shattered glass, distorts what it beholds.”
- “No man who has drunk deep of solitude and horror can ever forget its taste.”
- “The walls between sanity and madness are paper-thin.”
- “The mysteries of the human heart are the greatest enigmas of all.”
- “Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.”
- “Every poem should have an aim.”
- “The past is a pebble in my shoe.”
- “Dreams are the children of an idle brain.”
- “Convinced myself, I seek not to convince.”
- “Mysteries force us to question the fabric of reality itself.”
- “Evil is a consequence of good.”
- “A lie travels faster than the truth.”
- “Melancholy is thus the most legitimate of all poetic tones.”
- “The eyes are the mirror of the soul, and they reveal what words cannot.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s words haunt, inspire, and provoke deep reflection. His insights into love, loss, madness, and imagination remain timeless. Poe’s quotes remind us that beauty and darkness are often intertwined.
