Edgar Allan Poe · 448 pages
Rating: (200.3K votes)
“Now this is the point. You fancy me a mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded...”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“Villains!' I shrieked. 'Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“True! - nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.I heard many things in hell.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded –with what caution –with what foresight –with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it –oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly –very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! –would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously –oh, so cautiously –cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights –every night just at midnight –but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture –a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually –I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
“I smiled,—for what had I to fear?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
Edgar Allan Poe
Born place: in Boston, Massachusetts, The United States
Born date January 19, 1809
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