70 Halloween quotes to get into the spirit of the spooky season (2024)

“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes."

If Shakespeare's classic “Macbeth” quote sends a shiver down your spine, it should — it's creepy, chilling and even a bit scary, which is exactly what you want from a Halloween quote.

After all, the holiday is dedicated to darkness and celebrates all kinds of ghoulish delights, like horror movies, monsters and terrifying experiences. All of which can be perfectly paired with one of these spooky Halloween quotes.

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, we've, ahem, unearthed these short, funny and mildly unsettling Halloween quotes to use however you see fit.

Post one as a caption to accompany your Halloween activities on Instagram or recite a few as you and your boo crew carve this year's jack-o'-lantern.

In the collection below, you'll find memorable sayings from luminaries like Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury. We've also got quotes from your favorite Halloween movies including “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Hocus Pocus,” “Beetlejuice,” “The Addams Family” and many more.

Who knows when having a spooky saying will come in handy, but if and when you do, these Halloween quotes will leave you completely spellbound.

Short Halloween quotes

• “A lantern in his hand he bears, the way by night to show; and, from its flame, he's got the name of Jack O'Lantern now.” — Hercules Ellis, “The Romance of Jack O'Lantern”
• “But come forth on Halloween. ‘All the spirits, good and evil, fay and pixie, witch and wizard, on this night will sure be stirring.’” — Arthur Peterson, “Halloween”
• “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” — Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”
• “And skeletons dancing to a tune; and cries of children stifled soon; and over all a blood-red moon.” — Conrad Aiken, “The Vampire”
• “Evil has only the power that we give it.” — Ray Bradbury, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”

• “Every day is Halloween, isn’t it? For some of us.” — Tim Burton
• "Halloween spooks outside my window, Halloween spooks behind the tree. I wish that the children could see, but I can't find them for the life of me. And there's Halloween spooks outside my window pane!" — Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, "Halloween Spooks"
• “Flip the switch and let the cauldron bubble!” — Aunt Frances Owens, “Practical Magic”
• “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.” — William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”
• “They cannot be seen because they creep only in the dark.” — H.P. Lovecraft, “The H.P. Lovecraft Collection”

• “On Hallowe’en they all jump off the roof and fly!” — Ice Cream Boy, “Practical Magic”
• “In masks and gowns we haunt the street and knock on doors for trick or treat.” — Jack Prelutsky, “It’s Halloween”
• “Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.” — H.P. Lovecraft, “The Short Stories of H.P. Lovecraft”
• “I knew nothing but shadows and I thought them to be real.” -Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

• “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” — William Shakespeare, “Macbeth”
• “There is something haunting in the light of the moon.” — Joseph Conrad
• “At night the fog was thick and full of light, and sometimes voices.” — Erin Bow, “Plain Kate”
• “Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living.” — Thomas Browne, “Garden of Cyrus”

Halloween quotes from movies

• “I am the pumpkin king.” — Jack Skellington, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”
• “Last night you were unhinged. You were like some desperate, howling demon. You frightened me. Do it again.” — Morticia, “The Addams Family”
• “This is my costume. I’m a homicidal maniac, they look just like everyone else.” — Wednesday Addams, “The Addams Family”

• “You ever feel prickly things on the back of your neck?”— Cole Sear, “The Sixth Sense”
• “There’s a little witch in all of us.” — Alice Hoffman, “Practical Magic”
• “When I sleep my spirit slips away from my body and dances naked with the devil.” — Thomasin, “The Witch”
• “It’s Halloween. Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” — Sheriff Leigh Brackett, “Halloween”

• What’s the good of being a ghost if you can’t frighten people away?” — Barbara, “Beetlejuice”
• “One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach; all the damn vampires.” — Grandpa, “The Lost Boys”
• “Sisters, All Hallows’ Eve has become a night of frolic, where children wear costumes and run amok!” — Winifred Sanderson, “Hocus Pocus”
• “Yeah, some of our clothes are from victims. You might bite someone and then, you think, ‘Oooh, those are some nice pants!’ — Viago, “What We Do in the Shadows”

• “It’s pronounced ‘Fronkensteen.’” — Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, “Young Frankenstein”
• “Wench! Trollop! You buck-toothed, mop-riding firefly from hell!” — Billy Butcherson, “Hocus Pocus”
• “If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath — would you be standing in the horror section?” — Randy Meeks, “Scream”
• “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color.” —Wednesday Addams, “The Addams family”

• “Oh, look. Another glorious morning. Makes me sick!” — Winifred Sanderson, “Hocus Pocus”
• “Some people have swimming pools, others have private cemeteries. It can happen.” — Sara Evers, “The Haunted Mansion”
• “If I’d known you were coming, I could’ve made up the dungeon.” — Morticia Addams, “The Addams Family”

Funny Halloween quotes

• “Isn’t the view beautiful? It takes my breath away. Well, it would if I had any.” — The Corpse Bride, “The Corpse Bride”
• “Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvania station?” — Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, “Young Frankenstein”
• “There are three things that I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.” — Linus, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”

• “That’s what you dream about? Being a monster?” — Edward Cullen, “Twilight”
• “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” ― Ogden Nash, “Reflections on Ice Breaking”
• “Was deciding if I should dress as Batman or Spiderman for Halloween, when I realized I’m a grown man. So, Batman.” — Stephen Colbert
• “For Halloween, I’m going as that feeling you get at a store when you try to refold a sweater property and put it back on the shelf.” — Rob Delaney
• “Tonight the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch. He flies through the air and brings toys to all the children of the world.” — Linus, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”

• “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost.” — Ray Parker Jr., “Ghostbusters”
• “On Halloween, the parents sent their kids out looking like me.” — Rodney Dangerfield
• “Halloween is just finals week for parents.” — Jim Gaffigan
• “Halloween: the night that fathers get their hearts broken when they see their daughters costume.” — Whitney Cummings

Halloween quotes

• "She’d always loved Halloween. A magic night. A night when anything could happen. Monsters could be real. Magic could whisper in the air." — Cynthia Eden
• “Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows’ Eve.” — Ray Bradbury, “The Halloween Tree”
• “It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween! The moon is full and bright and we shall see that can’t be seen on any other night.” — Jack Prelutsky, “It’s Halloween”
• “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” — Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein”

• “Oh how the candles will be lit and the wood of worm burn in a fiery dust. For on all Hallows’ Eve will the spirits come to play.” — Solange nicole
• “They thought of All Hallows’ Night and the billion ghosts awandering the lonely lanes in cold winds and strange smokes.” — Ray Bradbury, “The Halloween Tree”
• “A witch never gets caught. Don’t forget that she has magic in her fingers and devilry dancing in her blood.” — Roald Dahl, “The Witches”
• “I know of witches who whistle at different pitches, calling things that don’t have names.” — Helen Oyeyemi, “White is for Witching”
• “We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight.” — H.P. Lovecraft, “The Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft”

• “Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.” — William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”
• “Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen, voices whisper in the trees, 'Tonight is Halloween!'” — Dexter Kozen
• “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” — H.P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"
• “Suddenly the day was gone, night came out from under each tree and spread.” — Ray Bradbury, “The Halloween Tree”
• “Be careful in the company of monsters that you don’t become one.” — Cindy Gerard, “Take No Prisoners”

• “Fear has many eyes, and can see things underground.” — Miguel de Cervantes, “The Adventures of Don Quixote”
• “Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand.” — Vincent Price, “Thriller”
• “Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.” — Walt Whitman
• “So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” — T.S. Eliot
• “I be the witch of the wood.” — Thomasin, “The Witch”

• “You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop: The Twilight Zone.” — Rod Serling, “The Twilight Zone”
• “The jack-o'-lantern follows me with tapered, glowing eyes. His yellow teeth grin evily. His cackle I despise.” — Richelle Goodrich, “Slaying Dragons”
• "Candle, spoon and carving knife: nearing the vigil of the dead, let’s impose a little life upon a ripening, faceless head.” — Robert B. Shaw, “Jack O’ Lantern”