Quotes from The Crucible

“Until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“You are pulling down heaven and raising up a whore”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“It is rare for people to be asked the question which puts them squarely in front of themselves”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“A child's spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“...an everlasting funeral marches round your heart.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!
- Abigail”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Peace. It is a providence, and no great change; we are only what we always were, but naked now.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“I cannot sleep for dreaming; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I'd find you comin' through the door.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Great stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. They say he give them but two words. "More weight," he says. And died.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Sex, sin, and the Devil were early linked.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“it's the proper morning to fly into Hell.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Oh,Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone...”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“I may think of you softly from time to time. But I’ll cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“PROCTOR, his mind wild, breathless: I say--I say--God is dead!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud – God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“What work you do! It's strange work for a Christian girl to hang old women!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“There is prodigious fear in seeking loose spirits”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“we are only what we always were”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Proctor: I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl's a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she's fraud, and the town gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone- I have no proof for it.
Elizabeth: You were alone with her?
Proctor: (stubbornly) For a moment alone, aye.
Elizabeth: Why, then, it is not as you told me.
Proctor: (his anger rising) For a moment, I say. The others come in soon after.
Elizabeth: (as if she has lost all faith in him) Do as you wish then. (she turns)
Proctor: Woman. (she turns to him) I'll not have your suspicion any more.
Elizabeth: (a little loftily) I have no-
Proctor: I'll not have it!
Elizabeth: Then let you not earn it.
Proctor: Now look you-
Elizabeth: I see what I see, John.”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“Pontius Pilate! God will not let you clean your hands of this!”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

“HALE, with a tasty love of intellectual pursuit”
― Arthur Miller, quote from The Crucible

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About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.