Holly Black Quotes

Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws …

When you consider the concept of vampirism, it is inherently part of a Western culture.

Angels, demons, spirits, wizards, gods and witches have peppered folk religions since mankind first started telling stories.

It's only in modern times that we have come to glorify vampirism.

I love monsters, I love creatures, I love beings, I love aliens. That's more supernatural and more the stuff of fairy tales. Fairy tales are as ancient as we are. I love those stories. I think they're really interesting because they always have more than simply the fright aspect. There's something deeply psychological.

I swear to God I was freaked out about the Aswang when I was a kid in the Philippines.

Irish mythology is gorgeous, and so are the fairies, but they are very misrepresented in the U.K. They are not little creatures with wings.

I think vampires are a timeless powerful archetype that can tap into people's psyches.

Faeries are associated with wild untamed nature, with art, and with death - so the folklore is rich with different stories to explore.

Vampires were an excellent springboard. I still love them; they fascinate me.

As you study vampire legend throughout history, it goes back to almost every culture. South Africa, Indonesia, crazy places have that legend and that idea of immortality.

I like vampires.

I've always been fascinated by mythology or, in modern parlance, by X-Men or vampires.

People tend to associate fairies with princesses, but they couldn't be more different. Princesses have dynastic and domestic pressures, and they get parked on glass hills. Fairies don't have families. They don't clean or cook. They sip nectar from flowers and dance by the light of the moon.

Anytime you're telling a story about monsterhood, you're playing around with ideas about otherness and alienation.

I believe in elves and giants. I believe that fairy tales are nothing more than news reports of what once happened.

If the devil went about doing a tenth of what he is accused of doing he would be poor from paying the blacksmith for ox-shoes for his hooves.

When I was a child there were many witches, and they bewitched both cattle and men, especially children.

The fairies in the ancient notion of fairies, they are not positive and cute and twinkly.They can be incredibly nasty or they can be incredibly benign. It's a really interesting mythology when you dig into it.

Demons live in many lands, but particularly in Prussia.

All the world loves a ghost. The evidence of that simple statement can be found by looking in nearly every direction.

Vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and eskimos.

I don't believe in faeries!

The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and a seal.

I think angels definitely offer all the imaginative possibilities that vampires do, and I think they've actually been popular in Western culture for longer than vampires have been. I hope they become a part of the culture again in a new way.