Halloween Quotations
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
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
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"
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
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead...
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
~William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1599
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
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
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
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
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
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