One hardly requires the abilities of a Tiresias to predict fog in London. What other revelations have you to offer, Theo? That the Grand National will be won by a horse this year, perhaps?
Sebastian, in SEBASTIAN O #3
We're beginning to think it may be a neurological disorder, similar to Tourette's Syndrome. It's quite possible we may be looking at some kind of super-sanity here. A brilliant new modification of human perception, more suited to urban life at the end of the twentieth century.
Ruth Adams describes the Joker in ARKHAM ASYLUM
You must be feeling quite fragile by now, I expect. This house, it... does things to the mind.
The Mad Hatter in ARKHAM ASYLUM
I pity the poor shades confined to the Euclidean prison that is sanity.
From Amadeus Arkham's journal in ARKHAM ASYLUM
I should say I'm very much cleverer than any of the people who put me here. As a matter of fact, I could leave any time I wanted. It's only a doll's house after all. Anyway, I don't mind. I like dolls. Particularly the live ones.
Mad Hatter's thoughts in ARKHAM ASYLUM
"And if you want something hotter, you know where to find me."
"In the gutter on a Friday night, Tony."
Tony and Annie in THE MYSTERY PLAY
Not every day one has God on the slab, eh?
The coroner in THE MYSTERY PLAY
"God is in the details," after all. Or in this case, perhaps, the details are in God.
The coroner in THE MYSTERY PLAY
I think everything that happens in the vicinity of a murder has some significance: the flight of birds, the shape of the clouds, the positions of the stars, items discarded by passersby. Nothing can be overlooked. If I find a match, I have to know where it was made and from what tree its wood was taken.
The detective in THE MYSTERY PLAY
I'm not a metaphysical man. I'm a minister. That's my job.
The minister in THE MYSTERY PLAY
I was somebody else once. I... I... don't think I was a very good person.
The detective in THE MYSTERY PLAY
"The killer's still out there, Mr Purves. I hope Christ has taken out life insurance."
"Oh, I'm sure any firm would jump at the chance to ensure a man who has eternal life, don't you?"
The detective and the mayor in THE MYSTERY PLAY
Well, me whole family's musical, Jeffo... even the sewing machine's a Singer.
John Constantine in HELLBLAZER #90
It's a little-known legend is Abaton -- the town of changing locations. Philosophers, mystics and clever-bastards-in-general have known of its existence for centuries.
In HELLBLAZER #93
As I follow the green man up the narrow path, visions of electric hedge trimmers go swimming through my brain.
John Constantine in HELLBLAZER #93
You are in a beautifully wooded area covered with flowers, blah-blah- blah...
John Constantine in HELLBLAZER #93
If Abaton's the unearthly reflection of all that we are, Britain's in far worse shape than I thought.
John Constantine in HELLBLAZER #93
I've always believed that guilt was an emotion for weaker men -- so where does that leave me?
Wesley Dodds, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act I
Ah, love... so much better than the alternative.
Rev. Hawsley, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act I
He's clouds or fires now.
The Cannon finds Donald Eversoll's body, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act II
Good news is he don't have to go to work tomorrow. Bad news is the same.
Lt. Burke finds Donald Eversoll's body, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act II
"I'm surprised you don't think justice is best left to higher powers, Bagsy?"
"I do, Dian -- I just want to make sure He knows where to look."
Dian and Rev. Hawsley, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act IV
"And are your Lord's lessons learned in you, Cannon?"
"I am confident that I will pass through St. Peter's gates with only minor negotiations."
The Sandman and the Cannon, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act IV
Good job, there, O'Grady. Always kick 'em when they're down. You might just make a detective yet.
Lt. Burke, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The Cannon", act IV
There are very few people who directly touch my daily life -- and I can't imagine how much poorer I'd be without any of them.
Wesley Dodds, in SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: "The City", act I
I was happy in that field. I could have stayed there forever. I liked life in those days. I thought life was my best friend.
I was a happy little idiot, really.
Kathy, in SHADE #1: "Execution Day"
I read a pamphlet on alcohol abuse once. It said alcohol turns you into a different person. I thought, "Great! That's for me!" But it was no good. You always wake up or sober up the same person. With a headache.
Kathy, in SHADE #1: "Execution Day"
Shade said all the madness inside people's heads will be released, made real. The sky looks really weird today. The colors look wrong. The clouds look wrong. Everything looks wrong. Welcome to the madhouse.
Kathy, in SHADE #1: "Execution Day"
"I'm your liberated dreams, baby. Your liberated dreams and your unfettered screams..."
"No! I don't want my dreams to be liberated. Our dreams are too terrible to be liberated!"
The American Scream and Duane, in SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
His teeth will always be perfect, his smile the smile of a sun god, his wife beside him and perfect. Texan sun on the limo's perfect polished bonnet...
From SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
And out it comes, out it grows. From the womb of Dallas, impregnated by seeds of blood and brain and bone, of conspiracy and deceit, of cowardice and corruption and greed, planted here on a hot bad Friday. Fifteen seconds past 12:30 PM, November 22, 1963...
The Kennedy sphinx... And who shall answer his riddle?
From SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
So the person chosen to be the leader of your country was murdered, and you had something called the Warren Commission to cover it all up. And the people really responsible were never even named. And the people you employ to protect you, the CIA, the FBI, they actually helped the people responsible to get away with it? And this was a popular president? What happens with an unpopular president? Do you just leave him in the gutter to rot or what?
Shade, in SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
This sphinx doesn't strangle. This sphinx is the Kennedy sphinx. This sphinx is American. It consumes. It eats.
From SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
Cancer is rather interesting. I believe it's a kind of wearing out of information. Runaway cells who've forgotten who they are or where they're going. But it mightn't be restricted to creatures or cells. Why not cancer of civilization? Why not cancer of the imagination? Imagine a cancer of reality.
Stringer, in SHADE #2: "Who Shot JFK?"
"Bobby? Jesus... And what about Teddy? They get Teddy, too?"
"Ahhh, no. They didn't need to wipe Teddy out. Teddy was doing a fine job of that himself."
JFK and Duane, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
I must be plastic. I must transpose myself into a new and mad view of reality.
Shade, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
The past is a branch, forking through and out from Dallas. There's more than one truth, more than one assassin. But behind them all is the same hand, the shadow of the same creature... let's go deeper still...
Mary Ann, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
Oh, the Mob and the CIA are just the high priests, the guardians of America's divinity... which is usually green and comes with a picture of Mr. Washington on one side and the words "In God We Trust" on the other...
Mary Ann, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
"I say we fly in the choppers, drop a few dozen grenades and swamp the whole area with napalm. See how the big bastard copes with that..."
"You sentimental old liberal, Hopgood. Don't you think we should try the direct approach?"
Hopgood and Stringer, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
You know, I've a horrible feeling that if we get much deeper into this madness we're gonna end up having a religious experience. And I vowed long ago never to have one of those.
Kathy, in SHADE #3: "All the President's Assassins"
And I am the American Scream, e pluribus unum, out of many, one... Giver of voice and flesh to the quiet screams of unquiet minds.
The Scream, in SHADE #4: "Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know"
I used to stare at flowers, rage at death, cry at sunsets. After my confirmation, I was too sensible for that. I enrolled at college, took my occupational personality test, cried at no more sunsets. I was a dull little bastard, like all the others.
Shade, in SHADE #4: "Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know"
And I smile, as a man might smile looking round the ruins of his house, and finding something he thought he'd lost long, long ago.
Shade, in SHADE #4: "Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know"
How I enjoy people who refer to themselves in the third person! It's as though they were reciting from their own biography. And a biography of a person is always so much more interesting than the person himself.
Crispin Keen, in SHADE #5: "Hollywood Babble On"
"Yeah, I heard she'd screw a horse if it meant acting with Brando."
"If it'd help her career she'd screw Brando if it meant acting with a horse."
Edward and William, in SHADE #5: "Hollywood Babble On"
"What do you do in America once the money's run out."
"Starve."
Shade and Kathy, in SHADE #5: "Hollywood Babble On"
You can't escape it. Everywhere there are screens, pictures, images, sounds. They won't let you be alone. America is scared of being alone.
From SHADE #5: "Hollywood Babble On"
"But a camera's just a machine. It can't have the madness. That doesn't make sense."
"If it made sense it wouldn't be the madness, would it?"
Kathy and Shade, in SHADE #6: "Hollywood Babble On II"
I must keep a clear head. If I'm to survive with my mind intact, I must put my queer shoulder firmly to the wheel of objectivity.
Crispen Keen, in SHADE #6: "Hollywood Babble On II"
All the years the public lived vicariously through film, now they're living it. But life isn't like film. Life's got too many plot defects. Whom to blame? Who's the director, the auteur of life? Who writes these utterly absurd screenplays? God? But God doesn't exist. And if he does he's more Godard than Spielberg.
Crispen Keen, in SHADE #6: "Hollywood Babble On II"
Guess this changes things, though. If inanimate objects can get the madness... an insane coffee cup. A schizophrenic shirt...
Shade, in SHADE #6: "Hollywood Babble On II"
"Nice tits, by the way."
"Jesus, we got a date with Oscar Wilde..."
Shade and a post-modern prostitute, in SHADE #64
"I think she looks the type that will see through the whole charade."
"Yeah. We're just visible signs of his inner trepidation coupled with a fear of commitment..."
"Excuse me! I said, excuse me! Prostitutes! Ladies of the night! Streetwalkers! I'm talking to you!"
Two post-modern prostitutes and Shade, in SHADE #64