Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was a 19th-century American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. His key achievements include pioneering the modern detective fiction genre (with C. Auguste Dupin) and Gothic horror, significantly shaping science fiction, and mastering the short story form, all while creating iconic poems such as The Raven and Annabel Lee. May these Edgar Allan Poe quotes and sayings offer you insight into his ideals that will guide you on your life's path.
1. “To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.” – Edgar Allan Poe
2. “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” – Edgar Allan Poe
3. “The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” – Edgar Allan Poe
4. “The true genius shudders at incompleteness—imperfection—and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.” – Edgar Allan Poe
5. “All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.” – Edgar Allan Poe
6. “There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
7. “That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.” – Edgar Allan Poe
8. “It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.” – Edgar Allan Poe
9. “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” – Edgar Allan Poe
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10. “If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.” – Edgar Allan Poe
11. “I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind.” – Edgar Allan Poe
12. “Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so.” – Edgar Allan Poe
13. “Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.” – Edgar Allan Poe
14. “I have great faith in fools–self-confidence my friends will call it.” – Edgar Allan Poe
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15. “Art is to look at not to criticize.” – Edgar Allan Poe
16. “It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.” – Edgar Allan Poe
17. “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.” – Edgar Allan Poe
18. “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” – Edgar Allan Poe
19. “It is the nature of truth in general, as of some ores in particular, to be richest when most superficial.” – Edgar Allan Poe
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20. “We loved with a love that was more than love.” – Edgar Allan Poe
21. “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” – Edgar Allan Poe
22. “With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
23. “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” – Edgar Allan Poe
24. “Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.” – Edgar Allan Poe
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25. “Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.” – Edgar Allan Poe
26. “Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path.” – Edgar Allan Poe
27. “The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.” – Edgar Allan Poe
28. “Even in the grave, all is not lost.” – Edgar Allan Poe
29. “All suffering originates from craving, from attachment, from desire.” – Edgar Allan Poe
30. “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” – Edgar Allan Poe
More Edgar Allan Poe Famous Quotes and Phrases
31. “I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect—in terror.” – Edgar Allan Poe
32. “There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
33. “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” – Edgar Allan Poe
34. “Of puns it has been said that those who most dislike them are those who are least able to utter them.” – Edgar Allan Poe
35. “I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down.” – Edgar Allan Poe
36. “To die laughing must be the most glorious of all glorious deaths!” – Edgar Allan Poe
37. “There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.” – Edgar Allan Poe
38. “Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health.” – Edgar Allan Poe
39. “I am a writer. Therefore, I am not sane.” – Edgar Allan Poe
40. “I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.” – Edgar Allan Poe
41. “To elevate the soul, poetry is necessary.” – Edgar Allan Poe
42. “When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket.” – Edgar Allan Poe
43. “Stupidity is a talent for misconception.” – Edgar Allan Poe
44. “I dread the events of the future, not in themselves but in their results.” – Edgar Allan Poe
45. “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.” – Edgar Allan Poe
46. “The death of a beautiful woman, is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.” – Edgar Allan Poe
47. “There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.” – Edgar Allan Poe
48. “The eye, like a shattered mirror, multiplies the images of sorrow.” – Edgar Allan Poe
49. “Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.” – Edgar Allan Poe
50. “If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment.” – Edgar Allan Poe
51. “Actually, I do have doubts, all the time. Any thinking person does. There are so many sides to every question.” – Edgar Allan Poe
52. “That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful.” – Edgar Allan Poe
53. “Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.” – Edgar Allan Poe
54. “Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.” – Edgar Allan Poe
55. “I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active—not more happy—nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.” – Edgar Allan Poe
56. “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” – Edgar Allan Poe
57. “And haven’t I told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses.” – Edgar Allan Poe
58. “In one case out of a hundred a point is excessively discussed because it is obscure; in the ninety-nine remaining it is obscure because it is excessively discussed.” – Edgar Allan Poe
59. “Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore.” – Edgar Allan Poe
60. “Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music, without the idea, is simply music; the idea, without the music, is prose, from its very definitiveness.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Share these Best Edgar Allan Poe Life Quotes with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.
2. “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” – Edgar Allan Poe
3. “The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” – Edgar Allan Poe
4. “The true genius shudders at incompleteness—imperfection—and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.” – Edgar Allan Poe
5. “All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.” – Edgar Allan Poe
6. “There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
7. “That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward.” – Edgar Allan Poe
8. “It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.” – Edgar Allan Poe
9. “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” – Edgar Allan Poe
11. “I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind.” – Edgar Allan Poe
12. “Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so.” – Edgar Allan Poe
13. “Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.” – Edgar Allan Poe
14. “I have great faith in fools–self-confidence my friends will call it.” – Edgar Allan Poe
16. “It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.” – Edgar Allan Poe
17. “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.” – Edgar Allan Poe
18. “They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” – Edgar Allan Poe
19. “It is the nature of truth in general, as of some ores in particular, to be richest when most superficial.” – Edgar Allan Poe
21. “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” – Edgar Allan Poe
22. “With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
23. “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” – Edgar Allan Poe
24. “Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.” – Edgar Allan Poe
26. “Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path.” – Edgar Allan Poe
27. “The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.” – Edgar Allan Poe
28. “Even in the grave, all is not lost.” – Edgar Allan Poe
29. “All suffering originates from craving, from attachment, from desire.” – Edgar Allan Poe
30. “Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” – Edgar Allan Poe
More Edgar Allan Poe Famous Quotes and Phrases
31. “I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect—in terror.” – Edgar Allan Poe
32. “There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.” – Edgar Allan Poe
33. “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” – Edgar Allan Poe
34. “Of puns it has been said that those who most dislike them are those who are least able to utter them.” – Edgar Allan Poe
35. “I intend to put up with nothing that I can put down.” – Edgar Allan Poe
36. “To die laughing must be the most glorious of all glorious deaths!” – Edgar Allan Poe
37. “There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.” – Edgar Allan Poe
38. “Mysteries force a man to think, and so injure his health.” – Edgar Allan Poe
39. “I am a writer. Therefore, I am not sane.” – Edgar Allan Poe
40. “I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity.” – Edgar Allan Poe
41. “To elevate the soul, poetry is necessary.” – Edgar Allan Poe
42. “When a madman appears thoroughly sane, indeed, it is high time to put him in a straight jacket.” – Edgar Allan Poe
43. “Stupidity is a talent for misconception.” – Edgar Allan Poe
44. “I dread the events of the future, not in themselves but in their results.” – Edgar Allan Poe
45. “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.” – Edgar Allan Poe
46. “The death of a beautiful woman, is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.” – Edgar Allan Poe
47. “There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.” – Edgar Allan Poe
48. “The eye, like a shattered mirror, multiplies the images of sorrow.” – Edgar Allan Poe
49. “Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.” – Edgar Allan Poe
50. “If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment.” – Edgar Allan Poe
51. “Actually, I do have doubts, all the time. Any thinking person does. There are so many sides to every question.” – Edgar Allan Poe
52. “That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful.” – Edgar Allan Poe
53. “Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.” – Edgar Allan Poe
54. “Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.” – Edgar Allan Poe
55. “I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active—not more happy—nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.” – Edgar Allan Poe
56. “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” – Edgar Allan Poe
57. “And haven’t I told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses.” – Edgar Allan Poe
58. “In one case out of a hundred a point is excessively discussed because it is obscure; in the ninety-nine remaining it is obscure because it is excessively discussed.” – Edgar Allan Poe
59. “Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore.” – Edgar Allan Poe
60. “Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music, without the idea, is simply music; the idea, without the music, is prose, from its very definitiveness.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Share these Best Edgar Allan Poe Life Quotes with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.