A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
Of all the inhabitants of the inferno, none but Lucifer knows that hell is hell, and the secret function of purgatory is to make of heaven an effective reality.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
There sighs, lamentations and loud wailings resounded through the starless air, so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sound of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, and sand eddies in a whirlwind.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Men might go to heaven with half the labor they put forth to go to hell, if they would but venture their industry in the right way.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
When the world dissolves, all places will be hell that are not heaven.
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) English Playwright, Poet, Translator
Hell is oneself, hell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections. There is nothing to escape from and nothing to escape to. One is always alone.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way: but, to return, and view the cheerful skies; in this, the task and mighty labor lies.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
In the utmost solitudes of nature the existence of hell seems to me as legibly declared, by a thousand spiritual utterances, as that of heaven.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
So this is hell. I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the burning marl. Old wives’ tales!There’s no need for red-hot pokers. HELL IS—OTHER PEOPLE!
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Activist
The trouble with you Chicago people is that you think you are the best people down here, whereas you are merely the most numerous.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I cannot help thinking that the menace of Hell makes as many devils as the severe penal codes of inhuman humanity make villains.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
It does not require a decision to go to hell.
—Unknown
Abandon all hope, you who enter here!
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d one self place; for where we are is Hell, and where Hell is, there must we ever be.
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–93) English Playwright, Poet, Translator
Hell is the full knowledge of the truth, when truth, resisted long, is sworn our foe, and calls eternity to do her right.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell.
—Karl Popper (1902–94) Austrian-born British Philosopher
Hell is truth seen too late—duty-neglected in its season.
—Tryon Edwards (1809–94) American Theologian, Author
Hell is a half-filled auditorium.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Divines and dying men may talk of hell, but in my heart her several torments dwell.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
When I go to hell, I mean to carry a bribe: for look you, good gifts evermore make way for the worst persons.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
O Lord, wandering with thee, even hell itself would be to me a heaven of bliss.
—The Ramayana Hindu Religious Text
For mortal men there is but one hell, and that is the folly and wickedness and spite of his fellows; but once his life is over, there’s an end to it: his annihilation is final and entire, of him nothing survives.
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Writer
Hell is full of good meanings and wishings.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
The hell of these days is the fear of not getting along, especially of not making money.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, “I can do no other.”
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist
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