Quotes about ghost (532 quotes, page 6)

“There are no souls, Melba thought with a touch of pity. We are bags of meat with a little electricity running through them. No ghosts, no spirits, no souls. The only thing that survives is the story people tell about you. The only thing that matters is your name.”

Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States

Source: Abaddon's Gate (2013), Chapter 11 (p. 121)

Soul , People

“In the ideological field, the question of who will win in the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie has not been really settled yet. We still have to wage a protracted struggle against bourgeois and petty bourgeois ideology. It is wrong not to understand this and to give up ideological struggle. All erroneous ideas, all poisonous weeds, all ghosts and monsters, must be subjected to criticism; in no circumstance should they be allowed to spread unchecked. However, the criticism should be fully reasoned, analytical and convincing, and not rough, bureaucratic, metaphysical or dogmatic.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Speech at the Chinese Communist Party’s National Conference on Propaganda Work (March 12, 1957), 1st pocket edition, pp. 26-27
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)

Idea , Understanding , Question

“Often when I am kneeling down in church, I think to myself how much we should thank God, the Holy Ghost, for the gift of capitalism.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech to a luncheon of lobby correspondents (c. early 1968), quoted in T. E. Utley, Enoch Powell: The Man and his Thinking (1968), p. 114
1960s

God , Thinking

“Poor country! One morning the citizens woke up dismayed; under the cover of darkness, while the people slept, the ghost of the past had conspired and had seized the citizenry by its hands, its feet, and its neck.”

Fidel Castro (1926–2016) former First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba

That grip, those claws were familiar: those jaws, those death-dealing scythes, those boots. No, it was no nightmare; it was a sad and terrible reality: A man named Fulgencio Batista had just perpetrated the appalling crime that no one had expected.
ibid, p. 90
History Will Absolve Me (October 16th, 1953)

Past , People , Country

“It is a mistake to believe in my presence... If I take a seat at a party, I can see, even from afar, that only a ghost is sitting there.”

Hugo Ball (1886–1927) German author, poet and one of the leading Dada artists

Quote from his text 'Flucht aus der Zeit', September 1915, p. 44; as quoted by Debbie Lewer in 'Papers of Surrealism Issue 6 Autumn 2007', p. 10
It was in 1915, shortly before Hugo Ball left Berlin for Zurich
before 1916

“When Machiavelli came to the end of his life, he had a vision shortly before giving up the ghost. He saw a small company of poor scoundrels, all in rags, ill-favoured, famished, and, in short, in as bad plight as possible. He was told that these were the inhabitants of paradise, of whom it is written, Beati pauperes, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum.”

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author

After they withdrew, innumerable serious and majestic personages appeared, who seemed to be sitting in a senate-house and dealing with the most important affairs of state. Among them he saw Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Plutarch, Tacitus, and others of similar character; but he was told at the same time that those venerable personages, notwithstanding their appearance, were the damned, and the souls rejected by heaven, for Sapientia huius saeculi, inimica est Dei.. After this, he was asked to which of the groups he would choose to belong; he answered that he would much rather be in Hell with those great geniuses, to converse with them about affairs of state, than be condemned to the company of the verminous scoundrels that he had first been shown.
This account of Machiavelli's "Dream" was not published until a century after his death, in Etienne Binet's Du salut d'Origene (1629).
There is an earlier but more oblique reference in a letter written by Giovambattista Busini in 1549: "Upon falling ill, [Machiavelli] took his usual pills and, becoming weaker as the illness grew worse, told his famous dream to Filippo [Strozzi], Francesco del Nero, Iacopo Nardi and others, and then reluctantly died, telling jokes to the last.".
The "Dream" is commonly condensed into a more pithy form, such as "I desire to go to hell, and not to heaven. In the former place I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings, and princes, while in the latter are only beggars, monks, hermits, and apostles".
Disputed
Source: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Source: The wisdom of this world is the enemy of God
Source: [Estienne, Binet, Du Salut D'Origene, 1629, Paris, Sebastien Cramoisy, 359-361, French, https://books.google.com/books?id=1yjDNfQatgQC&q=Plutarque&f=false]. Original French: On arrive à ce detestable poinct d'honneur, où arriva Machiauel sur la fin de sa vie: car il eut cette illusion peu deuant que rendre son esprit. II vit un tas de pauures gens, comme coquins, deschirez, affamez, contrefaits, fort mal en ordre, & en assez petit nombre, on luy dit que c'estoit ceux de Paradis, desquels il estoit ecrit: "Beati pauperes, quoniam ipsorum est regnum cælorum". Ceux-cy estans retirez, on fit paroistre vn nombre innombrable de personnages pleins de grauité & de majesté, on les voyoit comme un Senat, où on traitoit d'affaires d'estat, & fort serieuses, il entrevid Platon, Aristote, Seneque, Plutarque, Tacite, & d'autres de cette qualité. II demanda qui estoient ces Messieurs-là si venerables, on luy dit que c'estoient les damnez, & que c'estoient des ames reprouuées du Ciel, "Sapientia huius sæculi, inimica est Dei". Cela estant passé, on luy demanda desquels il vouloit estre. II respondit, qu'il aymoit beaucoup mieux estre en enfer auec ces grands esprits, pour deuiser auec eux des affaires d'Estat, que d'estre auec cette vermine de ces belistres qu'on luy auoit fait voir.
Source: [Lettere di Giovambattista Busini a Benedetto Varchi, Italian, Giovanni Battista, Busini, Gaetano Milanese (ed.), Florence, Felice le Monnier, 1860, 84-85, https://books.google.com/books?id=d5EKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22queste+pillole%22#v=snippet&q=%22queste%20pillole%22&f=false]. Original Italian: Ammalato cominciò a pigliar di queste pillole, ed a indebolire ed aggravar nel male; onde raccontò quel tanto celebrato sogno a Filippo, a Francesco del Nero ed a Iacopo Nardi, e ad altri, e cosi si morì malissimo contento, burlando.
Source: [The Last Words (real and Traditional) of Distinguished Men and Women, Frederic Rowland, Marvin, 178, Revell, 1902, https://books.google.com/books?id=SrEVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA178&dq=Hell+Heaven+%22enjoy+the+company+of+popes%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7x9SZzdDJAhUE-2MKHaO_CBkQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false]

Bad luck , Life

“Another interesting feature of the Einstein universe is that in principle it could be circumnavigated by a ray of light… it is unlikely that the rays would converge with sufficient accuracy. Nevertheless it is interesting to consider the possibility that some of the stars and nebulae which we see may after all be only optical ghosts.”

Gerald James Whitrow (1912–2000) British mathematician

The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)

Light , Star , Universe

“Did you have one of those days today, like a nail in the foot? Did the pterodactyl corpse dropped by the ghost of your mother from the spectral Hindenburg forever circling the Earth come smashing through the lid of your glass coffin? Did the New York strip steak you attacked at dinner suddenly show a mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth, and did it snap off the end of your fork, the last solid-gold fork from the set Anastasia pressed into your hands as they took her away to be shot? Is the slab under your apartment building moaning that it cannot stand the weight on its back a moment longer, and is the building stretching and creaking? Did a good friend betray you today, or did that good friend merely keep silent and fail to come to your aid? Are you holding the razor at your throat this very instant? Take heart, comfort is at hand. This is the hour that stretches. Djam karet.”

Harlan Ellison book Eidolons

We are the cavalry. We're here. Put away the pills. We'll get you through this bloody night. Next time, it'll be your turn to help us.
"Eidolons" (1988)

Heart

“Grace worketh with Mercy, and specially in two properties, as it was shewed: which working belongeth to the Third Person, the Holy Ghost. He worketh rewarding and giving.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

Summations, Chapter 58

Personality

“Man's need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality – but no control is possible in a universe which, by one's own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house.”

Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer

As reprinted in Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (1964; 2014 ebook), ISBN 978-1-101-13722-2, p. 44 https://books.google.com/books?id=d1GqjIhRejMC&pg=PT44.
"Mental Health versus Mysticism and Self-Sacrifice" (1963)

Housing , Universe , Self-confidence , Reality

“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.”

Richard Dawkins book Unweaving the Rainbow

Source: Unweaving the Rainbow (1998), Ch. 1 : The Anaesthetic of Familiarity; Dawkins is reported to have stated that this passage will be read at his funeral; it is often quoted with an extension which does not occur in any thus-far-checked editions of the book: "We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?"

Light , Making love , People

“I like ghosts as a metaphor for the outsider. I wish they were real; that would be my preferred afterlife plan. I'd love to observe and haunt with little involvement—I guess that's what being a writer is.”

Porochista Khakpour (1978) American writer

On the appearance of ghosts in Sick in “'THIS BOOK KEPT ME ALIVE': A CONVERSATION WITH POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR” https://psmag.com/social-justice/this-book-kept-me-alive-a-conversation-with-porochista-khakpour in Pacific Standard (2018 Jun 5)

Love , Making love

“Here’s to the ghost
We still seem to host
How he’s becoming us
Here come the vultures
Here come the vultures
Screaming down at us”

Charlotte Wessels (1987) Dutch singer

Here Come the Vultures, The Human Contradiction (2014)

“Robin, and Red Riding Hood
Take together to the wood,
And Sir Galahad lies hid
In a cave with Captain Kidd.
None of all the magic hosts,
None remain but a few ghosts
Of timorous heart, to linger on
Weeping for lost Babylon.”

Robert Graves (1895–1985) English poet and novelist

"Babylon"
Fairies and Fusiliers (1917)

Heart

“We are not saved on account of the Holy Ghost's work in us; we are saved by means of it. We are saved on account of Christ's work for us. The Spirit never tells us to look iiiwara even to His own operations, for peace, but outward to Christ.”

William Paton Mackay (1839–1885) Scottish clergyman

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 319.

Peace , Christ

“We clothe ourselves in flame
And trade new myths for old.
The Greek gods christen us
With ghosts of comet swords;
God smiles and names us thus:
Arise! Run! Fly, my Lords!”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

"We March Back to Olympus" in Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns (1977), p. 11

Smile , Clothes , God , Flying

“But what of the poor Ghosts who never get into the omnibus at all?”

Clive Staples Lewis book The Great Divorce

'Everyone who wishes it does. Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.'

Ch. 9, p. 72; part of this has also been rendered in a variant form, and quoted as:
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."
The Great Divorce (1944–1945)

“There is no hope for anybody else. You might as well give up the ghost now.”

Colm O'Rourke (1957) Irish Gaelic football player, journalist and businessman

On Dublin's dominance, RTÉ https://www.hoganstand.com/Article/Index/309065, February 2020

Hope

“The factory doesn't like to hear too much talk about things it doesn't believe in. Contrary to what you may have heard, the factory has never found a single problem caused by ghosts. So if you meet any ectoplasmic spirits up there in the high crane, I suggest you be polite and they'll probably be polite right back. You're up there alone for fourteen hours a day, and you might find it's nice to have someone to talk to.”

Megan Whalen Turner (1965) American children's writer

The Foreman
Instead of Three Wishes, Factory

Problem

“Comrades, I've voyaged long and far on sea and soul,
my eyes have seen disease, gods, ghosts, and men, and yet
in no land have I seen a more false, murderous siren
than that wind-headed, babbling, blind bitch-hound called Hope!”

Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek writer

Odysseus, Book X, line 892
The Odyssey : A Modern Sequel (1938)

God , Soul , Bitch , Hope

“The next gentleman who has endeavored to answer what I have said, is the Rev. Samuel Robinson. This he has done in his sermon entitled “Ghosts against God or Ingersoll against Honesty.””

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

I presume he imagines himself to be the defendant in both cases.
My Reviewers Reviewed (lecture from June 27, 1877, San Francisco, CA)

God

“Ghosts, I was thinking, memories—I wasn’t sure there was a difference.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Moon Over Soho

Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 5, “The Night Gate” (p. 97)

Thinking , Memory

“I wasn’t ready to believe in ghosts, but that’s the thing about empirical experience: it’s the real thing.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Rivers of London

Source: Rivers of London (2011; American edition title: Midnight Riot), Chapter 2, “Ghost Hunting Dog” (p. 26)

“In exile one is nothing but a ghost ... I ceased to exist when I went into exile.”

Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990) Cuban poet/novelist/playwright

Source: From Arenas’ work Before Night Falls (as quoted in “On Exile and the Longing for Home: Cuban Writer Reinaldo Arenas” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/on-exile-and-the-longing-_b_4451017; 2014 Feb 18)

“Four pails of water and a bagful of salts.
That is all we are, that is all a man comprises,
chemicals alone, with no spirit, soul or ghost -
nothing so bizarre.
No amount of faith disguises
what is true is what we fear the most”

Judge Smith (1948) English songwriter, composer, performer

"Four Pails"

Soul , Water , Fear , Faith

“Like a flame in the night
Like a ghost in the dark
There's a ray, there's a light
There's a hope, there's a spark”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Stimulate" (from 8 Mile, 2002)
2000s

Night , Light , Hope

“I will kill all of you. All the ghosts will come.”

Gavin Free (1988) English filmmaker

"Things to Do In: Halo 5 - Ghostbusters" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM5HHWlLzbM. youtube.com. August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2022.

“Some remnant of battle must remain, something halting an advance. The ghost of a ghost may be more than a memory. It may be a piece of history that refuses to be rewritten.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 156

History , Memory

“I almost don’t believe in ghosts.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

She was stating part of the problem. If ghosts are a metaphor for history, then belief is a leap into reality. If history is a metaphor for ghosts, matters get really serious.
Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 148