Author: Stephen King

Cites

• James McMurtry (1)
  • IN: Under the Dome (2009) Fiction, Science Fiction, , American
    EPIGRAPH: "Who you lookin for What was his name you can prob'ly find him at the football game it's a small town you know what I mean it's a small town, son and we all support the team"
    FROM: "Talkin' At the Texaco", (1989), Song, US
• George Seferis (2)
  • IN: Salem's Lot (1975) Fiction, Supernatural, American
    EPIGRAPH: Old friend, what are you looking for? After those many years abroad you come With images you tended Under foreign skies Far awar from your own land
    FROM: Return of the Exile, (None), Poem, Turkey
  • IN: It (1986) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: “Old friend, what are you looking for? After those many years abroad you come With images you tended Under foreign skies Far away from your own land.”
    FROM: The Return of the Exile, (None), Poem, Turkey
• Miguel de Cervantes (1)
  • IN: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) Non-fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Honesty’s the best policy.
    FROM: Don Quixote, (1615), Novel, Spain
• NULL (13)
  • IN: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) Non-fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Liars prosper.
    FROM: NULL, (None), NULL, NULL
  • IN: Roadwork (1981) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: I don't know why. You don't know why. Most likely God don't know why either. It's just Government business, that's all.
    FROM: Man in the street interview concerning Viet Nam, circa 1967, (1967), Speech, US
  • IN: The Shining (1977) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: It'll shine when it shines.
    FROM: Folk saying, (None), Saying, NULL
  • IN: Doctor Sleep (2013) Fiction, horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. [It is] the dubious luxury of normal men and women.
    FROM: The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, (1939), Book, US
  • IN: Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
    FROM: Spanish Proverb, (None), Proverb, Spain
  • IN: The Tommyknockers (1987) Fiction, Science fiction, Horror Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Late last night and the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers, knocking at the door. I want to go out, don’t know if I can, ’cause I’m so afraid of the Tommyknocker man.
    FROM: Traditional, (None), NULL, NULL
  • IN: Cujo (1981) Fiction, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Old Blue died and he died so hard He shook the ground in my back yard. I dug his grave with a silver spade And I lowered him down with a golden chain. Every link you know I did call his name, I called, “Here, Blue, you good dog, you.”
    FROM: Folk Song, (None), Song, NULL
  • IN: Hearts in Atlantis (1999) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: We blew it.
    FROM: Easy Rider, (1969), Film, US
  • IN: 11/22/63 (2011) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: If there is love, smallpox scars are as pretty as dimples.
    FROM: Japanese Proverb, (None), Proverb, Japan
• The Michael Stanley Band (1)
  • IN: It (1986) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: “This old town been home long as I remember This town gonna be here long after I’m gone. East side west side take a close look ’round her You been down but you’re still in my bones.”
    FROM: "My Town", (1983), Song, US
• Neil Young (1)
  • IN: It (1986) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Out of the blue and into the black.
    FROM: My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue), (2016), Song, Canada
• Thomas Wolfe (1)
  • IN: The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (1982) Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: . . . a stone, a leaf, an unfound door; of a leaf, a stone, a door. And of all the forgotten faces. Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb, we did not know our mother’s face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth. Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father’s heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone? . . . O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.
    FROM: Look Homeward, Angel, (1929), Novel, US
• Bruce Springsteen (1)
  • IN: The Stand (1978) Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Outside the street’s on fire In a real death waltz Between what’s flesh and fantasy And the poets down here Don’t write nothin at all They just stand back and let it all be And in the quick of the night They reach for their moment And try to make an honest stand But they wind up wounded Not even dead Tonight in Jungle Land.
    FROM: Jungleland, (1975), Song, US
• Blue Oyster Cult (1)
  • IN: The Stand (1978) Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: And it was clear she couldn’t go on! The door was opened and the wind appeared , The candles blew and then disappeared , The curtains flew and then he appeared , Said, “Don’t be afraid , Come on, Mary,” And she had no fear And she ran to him And they started to fly … She had taken his hand … “Come on, Mary; Don’t fear the Reaper!”
    FROM: (Don't Fear) the Reaper, (1976), Song, US
• Country Joe and the Fish (1)
  • IN: The Stand (1978) Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: WHAT’S THAT SPELL? WHAT’S THAT SPELL? WHAT’S THAT SPELL?
    FROM: "Feel like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag", (1967), Song, US
• AC/DC (2)
  • IN: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: i shoot from the hip and keep a stuff upper lip.
    FROM: "Stiff Upper Lip", (2000), Song, Australia
  • IN: Different Seasons (1982) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
    FROM: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, (1976), Song, Australia
• H. P. Lovecraft (1)
  • IN: Revival (2014) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons, even death may die.
    FROM: This is Not Dead, by Fictional poem of H. P. Lovecraft, (NULL), Fictional, NULL
• Edward Dorn (1)
  • IN: The Stand (1978) Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: We need help, the Poet reckoned.
    FROM: "The Gunslinger", (1968), Poem, US
• The Jayhawks (1)
  • IN: Black House (2001) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: You take me to a place I never go, You send me kisses made of gold, I’ll place a crown upon your curls, All hail the Queen of the World!
    FROM: Queen of the World, (2000), Song, US
• Maurice Sendak (1)
  • IN: Rose Madder (1995) Fiction, Fantasy, American
    EPIGRAPH: I’m really Rosie, And I’m Rosie Real, You better believe me, I’m a great big deal . . .
    FROM: "Really Rosie", (1975), Song, US
• May Swenson (1)
  • IN: Rose Madder (1995) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: A bloody egg yolk. A burnt hole spreading in a sheet. An en - raged rose threatening to bloom.
    FROM: Out of the Sea, Early, (1967), Poem, US
• Joseph Campbell (1)
  • IN: Finders Keepers (2015) Fiction, Crime, American
    EPIGRAPH: “It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.”
    FROM: NULL, (None), Book, US
• Stephen King (2)
  • IN: Finders Keepers (2015) Fiction, Crime, American
    EPIGRAPH: Shit don't mean shit.
    FROM: Gold, Jimmy, (2015), Fictional, NULL
  • IN: Duma Key (2008) Fiction, horror, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Life is more than love and pleasure, I came here to dig for treasure. If you want to play you gotta pay You know it’s always been that way, We all came to dig for treasure.
    FROM: Shark Puppy in Duma Key, (2008), Fictional, NULL
• E. A. Poe (1)
  • IN: The Shining (1977) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: It was in this apartment, also, that there stood … a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when … the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause … to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly … and [they] smiled as if at their own nervousness … and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes … there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before. But in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel …
    FROM: The Masque of the Red Death, (1842), Poem, US
• Francisco Goya (1)
  • IN: The Shining (1977) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: The sleep of reason breeds monsters.
    FROM: NULL, (1799), Painting, Spain
• Juan Montalvo (1)
  • IN: Insomnia (1994) Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, American
    EPIGRAPH: Old age is an island surrounded by death.
    FROM: On Beauty, (None), Book, Ecuador
• K.C. and the Sunshine Band (1)
  • IN: Skeleton Crew (1995) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: I’m your boogie man that’s what I am and I’m here to do whatever I can . . .
    FROM: I'm Your Boogie Man, (1976), Song, US
• Steve McQueen (1)
  • IN: The Regulators (1996) Fiction, Science fiction, Horror Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Mister, we deal in lead.
    FROM: The Magnificent Seven, (1960), Film, US
• Salman Rushdie (1)
  • IN: Desperation (1996) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: The landscape of his poetry was still the desert.
    FROM: The Satanic Verses, (1988), Novel, England/India
• John F. Kennedy (1)
  • IN: The Long Walk (1979) Fiction, Psychological Horror, Dystopia, American
    EPIGRAPH: I would encourage every American to walk as often as possible. It's more than healthy; it's fun.
    FROM: NULL, (1962), Speech, US
• Bob Dylan (1)
  • IN: The Long Walk (1979) Fiction, Psychological Horror, Dystopia, American
    EPIGRAPH: The pump don't work 'Cause the vandals took the handle.
    FROM: Subterranean Homesick Blues, (1962), Song, US
• Thomas Carlyle (1)
  • IN: The Long Walk (1979) Fiction, Psychological Horror, Dystopia, American
    EPIGRAPH: “To me the Universe was all void of Life, or Purpose, of Volition, even of Hostility; it was one huge, dead, immeasurable Steam-engine, rolling on, in its dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb. O vast, gloomy, solitary Golgotha, and Mill of Death! Why was the Living banished thither companionless, conscious? Why, if there is no Devil; nay, unless the Devil is your God?”
    FROM: Sartor Resartus, (1834), Novel, UK
• William Shakespeare (1)
  • IN: The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) Fiction, Fantasy, American
    EPIGRAPH: ROMEO : Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops— JULIET : O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. ROMEO : What shall I swear by? JULIET : Do not swear at all. Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry, And I’ll believe thee.
    FROM: Romeo and Juliet, (1597), Play, UK
• L. Frank Baum (1)
  • IN: The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) Fiction, Fantasy, American
    EPIGRAPH: On the fourth day, to [Dorothy’s] great joy, Oz sent for her, and when she entered the Throne Room, he greeted her pleasantly. “Sit down, my dear. I think I have found a way to get you out of this country.” “And back to Kansas?” she asked eagerly. “Well, I’m not sure about Kansas,” said Oz, “for I haven’t the faintest notion which way it lies. . . .”
    FROM: The Wizard of Oz, (1900), Novel, US
• Robert Browning (1)
  • IN: The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) Fiction, Fantasy, American
    EPIGRAPH: I asked one draught of earlier, happier sights, Ere fitly I could hope to play my part. Think first, fight afterwards—the soldier’s art: One taste of the old time sets all to rights!
    FROM: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, (1855), Poem, UK
• Sigmund Freud (2)
  • IN: Cell (2006) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: The id will not stand for a delay in gratification. It always feels the tension of the unfulfilled urge.
    FROM: NULL, (None), Essay, Austria
  • IN: Dolores Claiborne (1992) Fiction, Psychological thriller, American
    EPIGRAPH: What does a woman want?
    FROM: Letter to Marie Bonaparte, (1925), Letter, Austria
• Konrad Lorenz (1)
  • IN: Cell (2006) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Human aggression is instinctual. Humans have not evolved any ritualised aggression0inhibiting mechanisms to ensure the survival of the species. For this reason man is considered a very dangerous animal.
    FROM: On Aggression, (1963), Book, Austria
• Verizon (1)
  • IN: Cell (2006) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Can you hear me now?
    FROM: NULL, (2002), Advertisement, US
• Steven Earle (1)
  • IN: Needful Things (1991) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Ladies and gentlemen, attention, please! Come in close where everyone can see! I got a tale to tell, it isn’t gonna cost a dime! (And if you believe that, we’re gonna get along just fine.)
    FROM: Snake Oil, (1988), Song, US
• Henry David Thoreau (1)
  • IN: Needful Things (1991) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: I have heard of many going astray even in the village streets, when the darkness was so thick you could cut it with a knife, as the saying is...
    FROM: Walden, (1854), Book, US
• Bible (1)
  • IN: Pet Sematary (1983) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Jesus said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go, that I may awake him out of his sleep.” Then the disciples looked at each other, and some smiled because they did not know Jesus had spoken in a figure. “Lord, if he sleeps, he shall do well.” So then Jesus spoke to them more plainly, “Lazarus is dead, yes . . . nevertheless let us go to him.”
    FROM: John's Gospel, (100), Bible, NULL
• Arthur Machen (1)
  • IN: Just After Sunset (2008) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: “I can fancy what you saw. Yes; it is horrible enough; but after all, it is an old story, an old mystery played . . . . Such forces cannot be named, cannot be spoken, cannot be imagined except under a veil and a symbol, a symbol to the most of us appearing a quaint, poetic fancy, to some a foolish tale. But you and I, at all events, have known something of the terror that may dwell in the secret place of life, manifested under human flesh; that which is without form taking to itself a form. Oh, Austin, how can it be? How is it that the very sunlight does not turn to blackness before this thing, the hard earth melt and boil beneath such a burden?”
    FROM: The Great God Pan, (1894), Short story, UK
• George Santayana (1)
  • IN: Duma Key (2008) Fiction, horror, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Memory...is an internal rumor.
    FROM: The Life of Reason, (1906), Book, Spain/US
• D. H. Lawrence (1)
  • IN: Lisey's Story (2006) Fiction, Horror, Gothic, American
    EPIGRAPH: If I were the moon, I know where I would fall down.
    FROM: The Rainbow, (1915), Novel, UK
• Ryan Adams (1)
  • IN: Lisey's Story (2006) Fiction, Horror, Gothic, American
    EPIGRAPH: Where do you go when you’re lonely? Where do you go when you’re blue? Where do you go when you’re lonely? I’ll follow you When the stars go blue. —R
    FROM: When the Stars Go Blue, (2002), Song, US
• Robert Creeley (1)
  • IN: Christine (1983) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: As I sd to my friend, because I am always talking,—John I sd, which was not his name, the darkness sur- rounds us, what can we do against it, or else, shall we & why not, buy a goddamn big car, drive, he sd, for christ’s sake, look out where yr going.
    FROM: I Know a Man, (1962), Poem, US
• W. H. Auden (1)
  • IN: Cujo (1981) Fiction, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along . . .
    FROM: Musee des Beaux Arts, (1939), Poem, England/US
• The Sharp Cereal Professor (1)
  • IN: Cujo (1981) Fiction, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Nope, nothing wrong here.
    FROM: NULL, (1981), Fictional, NULL
• Ray Bradbury (2)
  • IN: Firestarter (1980) Fiction, Science fiction, Thriller, American
    EPIGRAPH: It was a pleasure to burn.
    FROM: Fahrenheit 451, (1953), Novel, US
  • IN: Bag of Bones (1998) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Mars is heaven.
    FROM: Mars is Heaven!, (1948), Short story, US
• Aretha Franklin (1)
  • IN: Dolores Claiborne (1992) Fiction, Psychological thriller, American
    EPIGRAPH: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.
    FROM: "Respect", (1967), Song, US
• W. Somerset Maugham (1)
  • IN: Gerald's Game (1992) Fiction, Suspense, American
    EPIGRAPH: [Sadie] gathered herself together. No one could describe the scorn of her expression or the contemptuous hatred she put into her answer. “You men! You filthy dirty pigs! You’re all the same, all of you. Pigs! Pigs!”
    FROM: Rain, (1921), Short Story, UK
• George (Stephen King) Stark (1)
  • IN: The Dark Half (1989) Fiction, Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: “Cut him,” Machine said. “Cut him while I stand here and watch. I want to see the blood flow. Don’t make me tell you twice.”
    FROM: Machine's Way, (1989), Fictional, US
• Peter Straub (1)
  • IN: Danse Macabre (1981) Horror Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: “What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?” “I won’t tell you that, but I’ll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me . . . the most dreadful thing . . .”
    FROM: Ghost Story, (1967), Novel, US
• Eddie Cochran (1)
  • IN: Danse Macabre (1981) Horror Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Well we'll really have a part but we gotta post a guard outside...
    FROM: Come on Everybody, (1958), Song, US
• Norman Whitfield (1)
  • IN: Different Seasons (1982) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: I heard it throught the grapevine.
    FROM: Heard it Through the Grapevine, (1968), Song, US
• Flaubert (1)
  • IN: Different Seasons (1982) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Tout s’en va, tout passe, l’eau coule, et le coeur oublie.
    FROM: NULL, (None), NULL, France
• Stephen Crane (1)
  • IN: Four Past Midnight (1990) Fiction, Supernatural, American
    EPIGRAPH: In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it Because it is bitter And because it is my heart.”
    FROM: In the Desert, (1895), Poem, US
• Wilson Pickett (1)
  • IN: Four Past Midnight (1990) Fiction, Supernatural, American
    EPIGRAPH: I’m gonna kiss you, girl, and hold ya, I’m gonna do all the things I told ya In the midnight hour.
    FROM: "In the Midnight Hour", (1965), Song, US
• Cross Canadian Ragweed (1)
  • IN: End of Watch (2016) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Get me a gun Go back into my room I'm gonna get me a gun One with a barrel or two You know I'm better off dead than Singing these suicide blues
    FROM: Suicide Blues, (2002), Song, US
• Herman Melville (1)
  • IN: Bag of Bones (1998) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Yes, Bartleby stay there behind your screen, thought I; I shall persecute you no more; you are harmless and nosieless as any of these old chairs; in short, I never feel so private as when I know you are here.
    FROM: Bartleby, (1853), Short story, US
• Daphne du Maurier (1)
  • IN: Bag of Bones (1998) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Last night I dreamt I went o Manderley again... As I stood there, hushed and still, I could swear that the house was not an empty shell but lived and breathed as it had lived before.
    FROM: Rebecca, (1938), Novel, UK
• William Golding (1)
  • IN: Hearts in Atlantis (1999) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Simon stayed where he was, a small brown image, concealed by the leaves. Even if he shut his eyes the sow's head still remained like an after-image. The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business.
    FROM: Lord of the Flies, (1954), Novel, UK
• Norman Mailer (1)
  • IN: 11/22/63 (2011) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: It is virtually not assimilable to our reason that a small lonely man felled a giant in the midst of his limousines, his legions, his throng, and his security. If such a nonentity destroyed the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, then a world of disproportion engulfs us, and we live in a universe that is absurd.
    FROM: Oswald's Tale: An American History, (1995), Book, US

Cited by

• Alden Bell (1)
  • IN: The Reapers Are the Angels (2010) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Sometimes dead is better.
    FROM: Pet Sematary, (1983), Novel/Film, US
• Stephen King (2)
  • IN: Finders Keepers (2015) Fiction, Crime, American
    EPIGRAPH: Shit don't mean shit.
    FROM: Gold, Jimmy, (2015), Fictional, NULL
  • IN: Duma Key (2008) Fiction, horror, Psychological Horror, American
    EPIGRAPH: Life is more than love and pleasure, I came here to dig for treasure. If you want to play you gotta pay You know it’s always been that way, We all came to dig for treasure.
    FROM: Shark Puppy in Duma Key, (2008), Fictional, NULL
• Justin Gustainis (1)
  • IN: Hard Spell (2011) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Death is when the monsters get you.
    FROM: Salem's Lot, (1975), Novel, US
• John Adams (1)
  • IN: Other Worlds Than These (2012) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Go then, there are other worlds than these.
    FROM: Jake Chambers, to Roland Deschain of Gilead [from The Gunslinger by Stephen King], (1982), Fictional, US
• Miyuki Miyabe (1)
  • IN: The Sleeping Dragon (1991) Fiction, NULL
    EPIGRAPH: The talent is well hidden indeed; how else could it have remained submerged for centuries with only the tip of the iceberg showing above a sea of quackery?
    FROM: Carrie, (1975), Novel, US
• Julie Cantrell (1)
  • IN: Perennials (2017) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.
    FROM: NULL, (None), NULL, US