“When Randolph Carter was thirty he lost the key of the gate of dreams.”

“To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell. And so it is with science.”

“It is a key keeper’s right to bestow a copy of his key on anyone he wishes. But this practice―a phenomenal rite―is hardly ever performed. To receive a copy of the key means to have its imprint seared into your hand. Holding that branded replica over the front lock miraculously parts the gates to Dreamland. It works just as effectively as inserting the genuine key. Staggering to think about, isn’t it? You might consider clenching your fists when you dream.”

“Randolph," he said, "were you ever as young as me?" And Randolph said: "I was never so old.”

“Reagan won because he ran against Jimmy Carter. If he ran unopposed he would have lost.”

“He had not far to go; he knew indeed how many steps it was from the gate of his lodging house: exactly seven hundred and thirty. He had counted them once when he had been lost in dreams. At the time he had put no faith in those dreams and was only tantalising himself by their hideous but daring recklessness. Now, a month later, he had begun to look upon them differently, and, in spite of the monologues in which he jeered at his own impotence and indecision, he had involuntarily come to regard this "hideous" dream as an exploit to be attempted, although he still did not realise this himself. He was positively going now for a "rehearsal" of his project, and at every step his excitement grew more and more violent.”