ROBERT BLOCH

Horror is the removal of masks.

So much for modern science and its wonderful discoveries that just about everything can kill you. Life is only a bedtime story before a long, long sleep.

I always carry a pistol when I go [to the New York Public Library]. Never did trust those stone lions.

We're all not quite as sane as we pretend to be.

I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf.

Magic--that's just a label, you know. Completely meaningless. It wasn't so very long ago that people were saying that electricity was magic.

I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times.

Henderson sighed. There was a time, he reflected, when the coming of this night meant something. A dark Europe, groaning in superstitious fear, dedicated this Eve to the grinning Unknown. A million doors had once been barred against the evil visitants, a million prayers mumbled, a million candles lit. There was something majestic about the idea, Henderson reflected.

The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone else he can blame it on.

Norman Bates heard the noise and a shock went through him.

The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone else he can blame it on.

I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf.

Mothers sometimes are overly possessive, but not all children allow themselves to be possessed.

We're all not quite as sane as we pretend to be.

Henderson sighed. There was a time, he reflected, when the coming of this night meant something. A dark Europe, groaning in superstitious fear, dedicated this Eve to the grinning Unknown. A million doors had once been barred against the evil visitants, a million prayers mumbled, a million candles lit. There was something majestic about the idea, Henderson reflected.

Then she did see it there - just a face, peering through the curtains, hanging in midair like a mask. A head-scarf concealed the hair and the glassy eyes stared inhumanly, but it wasn’t a mask, it couldn’t be. The skin had been powdered dead-white and two hectic spots of rouge centered on the cheekbones. It wasn’t a mask. It was the face of a crazy old woman. Mary started to scream, and then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher’s knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream. And her head.

That's the way girls were--they always laughed. Because they were bitches.

Funny how we take it for granted that we know all there is to know about another person, just because we see them frequently or because of some strong emotional tie.

Horror is the removal of masks.

Norman Bates heard the noise and a shock went through him.

So much for modern science and its wonderful discoveries that just about everything can kill you. Life is only a bedtime story before a long, long sleep.

I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times.

I always carry a pistol when I go [to the New York Public Library]. Never did trust those stone lions.

Magic--that's just a label, you know. Completely meaningless. It wasn't so very long ago that people were saying that electricity was magic.

Everything in this business makes sense, because it serves a real purpose, fills a need that's a part of living. Even a single nail, like this one, fulfills a function. Drive it into a crucial place and you can depend on it to do a job, keep on doing it for a hundred years to come. Long after we're dead and gone, both of us.

So I had this problem -- work or starve. So I thought I'd combine the two and decided to become a writer.