51 Curse Quotes Explained

In the world of literature and entertainment, curses have always fascinated and terrified audiences. From ancient folklore to modern novels and films, the concept of a curse brings a sense of mystery and dread that captivates our imagination. In this blog post, we've curated a collection of the top 51 curse quotes, each meticulously explained to uncover the deeper meanings and cultural significance behind them. Whether you're intrigued by the poetic darkness of a Shakespearean curse or the chilling simplicity of a horror movie hex, these quotes offer a window into the human psyche and our eternal struggle with fate and the supernatural. Join us as we delve into these powerful words and unravel the stories they tell.

1. “Religion carries two sorts of people in two entirely opposite directions: the mild and gentle people it carries towards mercy and justice; the persecuting people it carries into fiendish sadistic cruelty. Mind you, though this may seem to justify the eighteenth-century Age of Reason in its contention that religion is nothing but an organized, gigantic fraud and a curse to the human race, nothing could be farther from the truth. It possesses these two aspects, the evil one of the two appealing to people capable of naïve hatred; but what is actually happening is that when you get natures stirred to their depths over questions which they feel to be overwhelmingly vital, you get the bad stirred up in them as well as the good; the mud as well as the water. It doesn't seem to matter much which sect you have, for both types occur in all sects....” - Alfred North Whitehead

2. “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” - Winston Churchill

3. “For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his last punishment, let the flames of hell consume him for ever.Curse on book thieves, from the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain” - Cornelia Funke

4. “Love can be a terrible curse, Eragon. It can make you overlook even the largest flaws in a person's behavior.” - Christopher Paolini

5. “Day after day, day after day,We stuck, nor breath nor motion;As idle as a painted shipUpon a painted ocean.” - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

6. “The mirror crack'd from side to side"The curse has come upon me," criedThe Lady of Shalott” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

7. “Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.” - Rick Riordan

8. “It is the curse of the powerful to be blind to their own faults.” - Robert Fanney

9. “THE CURSEMay they neverReturn home at night...May you have no part of eventide,May you have no room of your own,Nor road, nor return.May your days be all exactly the same,Five Fridays in a row,Always an unlucky Tuesday,No Sunday,May you have no more little worries,Tears or inspiration,For you yourself are the greatest worry on earth:Prisoner!” - Visar Zhiti

10. “May the IRS find that you deduct your pet sheep as an entertainment expense.” - Christopher Moore

11. “Fuck a zombie!” - Charlaine Harris

12. “Purpurfargade ansiktet” - Stephen King

13. “Music sounds different to the one who plays it. It is the musician's curse.” - Patrick Rothfuss

14. “...to swear with a ferocity that can only be described as a talent.” - Markus Zusak

15. “There are no such things as curses; only people and their decisions” - Yvonne Wood

16. “Mad Eye' Moody on the Avada Kedavra curse: "Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no counter curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me.” - J.K. Rowling

17. “The curse of men can't make me defiled.I defile myself if I curse men by intention.” - Toba Beta

18. “When you write about what you dream, you become a writer.When you dream about what you write, you become haunted by a curse.” - Amal Saleh

19. “When you curse anything bad,you just give birth to the new one.” - Toba Beta

20. “Memory was a curse, yes, he thought, but it was also the greatest gift. Because if you lost memory you lost everything.” - Anne Rice

21. “Feeling harder to be oneself might be a curse of popularity.” - Toba Beta

22. “The ugly and stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live-- undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They never bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Henry; my brains, such as they are-- my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks-- we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.” - Oscar Wilde

23. “Man of an hard heart! Hear me, Proud, Stern, and Cruel! You could have saved me; you could have restored me to happiness and virtue, but would not! You are the destroyer of my Soul; You are my Murderer, and on you fall the curse of my death and my unborn Infant’s! Insolent in your yet-unshaken virtue, you disdained the prayers of a Penitent; But God will show mercy, though you show none. And where is the merit of your boasted virtue? What temptations have you vanquished? Coward! you have fled from it, not opposed seduction. But the day of Trial will arrive! Oh! then when you yield to impetuous passions! when you feel that Man is weak, and born to err; When shuddering you look back upon your crimes, and solicit with terror the mercy of your God, Oh! in that fearful moment think upon me! Think upon your Cruelty! Think upon Agnes, and despair of pardon!” - Matthew Gregory Lewis

24. “You don’t know what a trial it is to be —like me. I've got to keep my face like steel in the street to keep men from winking at me.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

25. “Really? And what curse befalls the Adams of the world?"Ann opens her mouth and, presumably thinking of nothing to say, closes it again. It is Felicity who answers, eyes steely. "They are weak to temptation. And we are their temptresses.” - Libba Bray

26. “When you're truly awesome, you know that it's actually a burden and wish day after day to be relieved of such a curse. Think of about 95% of the superheroes.” - Criss Jami

27. “Holy Hell! That was totally badass” - Shannon Delany

28. “I am aware that humans believe they are the sole owners of this curse, but all creatures love, Dieter. Love is our one shared madness, our one shared burden. All creatures are driven against sense by it, and even the lowest ant will die madly for her queen.” - B. Justin Shier

29. “She left the web, she left the loom, She made three paces through the room, She saw the water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror crack'd from side to side; "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott.” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

30. “I, Rooster John Byron, hereby place a curseUpon the Kennet and Avon Council,May they wander the land for ever,Never sleep twice in the same bed,Never drink water from the same well,And never cross the same river twice in a year.He who steps in my blood, may it stick to themLike hot oil. May it scorch them for life,And may the heat dry up their souls,And may they be filled with the melancholyWine won't shift. And all their newborn babiesBe born mangled, with the same marks,The same wounds of their fathers.Any uniform which brushes a single leaf of this woodIs cursed, and he who wears it this St George's Day,May he not see the next.” - Jez Butterworth

31. “Bags!” - Terry Goodkind

32. “Beauty was a curse to be borne, not a blessing.” - Rebecca Johns

33. “Every night death came, slowly, painfully, and every morning Maddox awoke in bed, knowing he'd have to die again later. That was his greatest curse and his eternal punishment.” - Gena Showalter

34. “It would be one thing if I had been cursed so that everyone I loved would die," said Will. "I could keep myself from loving. To keep others from caring for me--it is an odd, exhausting procedure.” - Cassandra Clare

35. “Sacredness and profanity and prayers and wishes: they're all held together by the broken limbs of this dead tree, raking the night sky with its blackened branches. We are so small, the two of us. The tree and sky are so large and grand. We could fail so easily, fall before we've begun to rise.” - Elora Bishop

36. “I am all for curses and superstition, but there's a point at which they start getting in the way. That point had arrived.” - Tahir Shah

37. “No one can curse and bless anybody at the same time.” - Toba Beta

38. “If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.” - Anthon St. Maarten

39. “Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?” - Idries Shah

40. “The man gave Dodger a cursory glance that had quite a lot of curse in it.” - Terry Pratchett

41. “Play it, Eddie, don't be foolish;' she urges. 'Now's the time, break the spell once and for all, prove to yourself that it can't hurt you. If you don't do it now, you'll never get over the idea. It'll stay with you all your life. Go ahead. I'll dance it just like I am.' 'Okay,' he says.He taps. It's been quite some time, but he can rely on his outfit. Slow and low like thunder far away, coming nearer. Boom-putta-putta-boom! Judy whirls out behind him, lets out the first preliminary screech, Eeyaeeya!She hears a commotion in back of her and stops as suddenly as she began. Eddie Bloch's fallen flat on his face and doesn't move again after that.They all know, somehow. There's an inertness, a finality about it that tells them. The dancers wait a minute, mill about, then melt away in a hush. Judy Jarvis doesn't scream, doesn't cry, just stands there staring, wondering. That last thought - did it come from inside his own mind just now - or outside? Was it two months on its way, from the other side of the grave, looking for him, looking for him, until it found him tonight when he played the Chant once more and laid his mind open to Africa? No policeman, no detective, no doctor, no scientist, will ever be able to tell her. Did it come from inside or from outside? All she says is: 'Stand close to me, boys - real close to me, I'm afraid of the dark.' ("Papa Benjamin" aka "Dark Melody Of Madness")” - Cornell Woolrich

42. “She gave a little sob deep in her throat. 'Call it a prophecy, call it a prediction, call it fate - call it what you will. I fought against it hard enough, God knows. But the evidence of my own eyes, my own ears, my own senses, is too much for me. And the time's too short now. I'm afraid to take a chance. I haven't got the nerve to bluff it out, to sit pat. You don't gamble with a human life. Today's the 13th, isn't it? It's too close to the 14th; there isn't time-margin enough left now to be skeptical, to keep it to myself any longer. Day by day I've watched him cross off the date on his desk-calendar, drawing nearer to death. There are only two leaves left now, and I want help! Because on the 14th - at the exact stroke of midnight, as the 15th is beginning -'She covered her face with both arms and shook silently.'Yes?' urged McManus. 'Yes?''He's become convinced - oh, and almost I have too - that at exactly midnight on the 14th he's to die. Not just die but meet his death in full vigor and health, a death rushing down to him from the stars he was born under - rushing down even before he existed at all. A death inexorable, inescapable. A death horrid and violent, inconceivable here in this part of the world where we live.' She took a deep, shuddering breath, whispered the rest of it. 'Death at the jaws of a lion.' ("Speak To Me Of Death")” - Cornell Woolrich

43. “And I still say it was just a coincidence;' he muttered pugnaciously. 'You say it too! Look at me and say it! It was just a coincidence. That happened to be the nearest place on the dial where they both met exactly, those two hands. My blows dented them. They got stuck there just as the works died, that was all. Stay sane whatever you do. Say it over and over. It was just a coincidence!'Outside the tall French windows, in the velvety night-sky, the stars in all their glory twinkled derisively in at them. ("Speak To Me Of Death")” - Cornell Woolrich

44. “Oh, what an unbearable yoke is free will! What a vicious curse of the gods, granting self-determination to creatures incapable of guiding themselves! What good parent would free a child among tigers?” - J. Robert King

45. “Humans are curious creatures. What we cannot see, our logical minds will try to deny.” - Nancy B. Brewer

46. “In the midst of prosperity, the challenge for believers is to handle wealth in such a way that it acts as a blessing, not a curse.” - Randy Alcorn

47. “Too much of anything can make you sick,even the good can be a curse - Cheryl Cole” - Cheryl Cole

48. “Well, look who's on my front porch," he said, speaking Empire with this odd hissing accent. "A murderer and a cross-dressing pirate."I looked down at my clothes, ripped and shredded and covered in mud and sand and dried blood. I'd forgotten I was dressed like a boy."So are you here to kill me or to rob me?" the man said. "I generally don't find it useful to glow when undertaking acts of subterfuge, but then, I'm just a wizard” - Cassandra Rose Clarke

49. “I look at the others, simpering courtiers and visiting dignitaries, all unsuspecting of what is to come. A merciful man should spare them, but I had mercy cut out of me at a young age.” - A.F. Stewart

50. “They say it came from Africa, carried in the screams of the enslaved; that it was the death bane of the Tainos, uttered just as one world perished and another began; that it was a demon drawn into Creation through the nightmare door that was cracked open in the Antilles. Fukú americanus, or more colloquially, fukú - generally a curse or doom of some kind; specifically the Curse and the Doom of the New World. No matter what its name or provenance, it is believed that the arrival of Europeans on Hispaniola unleashed fukú on the world, and we've all been in the shit ever since.” - Junot Diaz

51. “The doom lies in yourself, not in your name.” - J.R.R. Tolkien