Quotes (The Woman in Black)

Key quotes from the novel The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

Quotes that represent the theme of isolation.

“Minutes later, they were receding across the causeway, smaller and smaller figures in the immensity and wideness of marsh and sky.”

“But for today I had had enough. Enough of solitude and no sound save the water and the moaning wind and the melancholy calls of the birds.”

“And then, with an awful cry of realization, I knew. There was no visitor—or at least no real, human visitor—no Keckwick.”

“For a long time, I did not move from the dark, wood-panelled hall. I wanted company, and I had none, lights and warmth and a strong drink inside me, I needed reassurance.”

Quotes that represent the theme of fear.

“A man may be accused of cowardice for fleeing away from all manner of physical dangers but when things supernatural, insubstantial and inexplicable threaten not only his safety and well-being but his sanity, his innermost soul, then retreat is not a sign of weakness but the most prudent course.”

“Doubtless, in such a place as this, with its eerie marshes, sudden fogs, moaning winds… any poor old woman might be looked at askance; once upon a time, after all, she would have been branded as a witch.”

 “I stood absolutely helpless in the mist that clouded me and everything from my sight, almost weeping in an agony of fear and frustration, and I knew that I was hearing… appalling last noises of a pony and trap, carrying a child in it.”

“I had been as badly frightened as a man could be. I did not think that I would be the first to run from physical risks and dangers, although I had no reason to suppose myself markedly braver than the next person.”

“In a curious way, it was her fearfulness that persuaded me that I must retain control of myself.”

Quotes that represent the theme of revenge.

“It was one of what I can only describe… as a desperate, yearning malevolence.”

“Was not everyone connected with that sad story now dead?”

“There was nothing else the woman could do to me, surely, I had endured and survived.”

“Moreover, that the intensity of her grief and distress together with her pent-up hatred and desire for revenge permeated the air all around.”

“Our baby son had been thrown clear, clear against another tree. He lay crumpled on the grass below it, dead.”

“I had seen the ghost of Jennet Humfrye and she had had her revenge.”

Quotes that represent the theme of the supernatural.

“she would have been branded as a witch and local legends and tales were still abroad and some extravagant folklore still half-believed in.”

“She had a ghostly pallor and a dreadful expression, she wore clothes that were out of keeping with the styles of the present-day.”

“I did not believe in ghosts. Or rather, until this day, I had not done so.”

"I have seen whatever ghost haunts Eel Marsh and that burial ground."

"Rest in peace," I thought, but this poor one did not, could not.”