# Quote — Stephen King, Danse Macabre

> I recognize terror as the finest emotion (used to almost quintessential effect in Robert Wise's film The Haunting, where, as in The Monkey's Paw, we are never allowed to see what is behind the door), and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find I cannot terrify him/her, I will try to horrify; and if I find I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.

- Author: [Stephen King](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king.md)
- Book: [Danse Macabre](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre.md)
- Page: 37
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre_(book)#Quotes) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre/i-recognize-terror

## More from this book

> I think we're all a little mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better-and maybe not all that much better, after all.

p. 184 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre/i-think-were.md)

> ...but talent is a dreadfully cheap commodity, cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work and study; a constant process of honing. Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force...

p. 92 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre/but-talent-is-a-dreadfully.md)

> The danse macabre is a waltz with death. This is a truth we cannot afford to shy away from. Like the rides in the amusement park which mimic violent death, the tale of horror is a chance to examine what's going on behind doors which we usually keep double-locked. Yet the human imagination is not content with locked doors. Somewhere there is another dancing partner, the imagination whispers in the night - a partner in a rotting ball gown, a partner with empty eyesockets, green mold growing on her elbow-length gloves, maggots squirming in the thin remains of her hair. To hold such a creature in our arms? Who, you ask me, would be so mad? Well...?

p. 366 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre/the-danse-macabre.md)