I'm not going to lie... I watched it three times in a row. Although it is a scary series, the scariest part about it was how REAL it got. About love. About life. About pain. About death. These are just SOME of the quotes that have stuck with me from, 'The Haunting of Bly Manor,' on Netflix.
Now, without further adieu, here are 17 scary good quotes from the show.
1. "To truly love another person is to accept the work of loving them is worth the pain of losing them."
This reminds me of "Good Will Hunting," one of my favorite movies of all time. Love is a risk, but it just might be entirely worth it.
2. "People do, don't they? Mix up love and possession. I don't think that should be possible. They're opposites really: love and ownership."
This may just be my favorite quote from the show. No one, and I mean NO ONE who claims to love you has the right to possess you. You are not an object, you are a person, and you don't belong to anyone but yourself.
To further illustrate this idea, here's another of my favorite quotes:
"If you love a flower, don't pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and ceases to be what you love. So, if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation." -Osho
3. "Save them all if you can, but put your own oxygen mask on first."
Say it louder for the people in the back. It's okay to want to save everyone else, but there's no way you can if you can't breathe. You have to save yourself, first.
4. "He understands that funerals are for the living. It's for the living to decide what they can and can't bear."
If you think about it, funerals really are for the living. We think it's for the dead, but it's not. It's for us to cope. It's for us to feel like we still have a formal opportunity to say goodbye.
5. "Death is something to mourn, not fear."
It's true. There's no sense of living your whole life in fear; that takes away from actually living your life. Cherish what you have while you have it, and mourn it when it's gone.
6. "You know in the old days, I mean the really old days, they used to build bonfires like this and talk about the people they'd lost. Toss in offerings to drive away evil spirits, bones mostly. That's why they call it a bonfire, from the old English "bone fire." Build a pile of old bones and burn away the shadows. Because from here on in, the shadows get deeper, the nights get longer. We're heading into the dark, and we have to hang onto each other."
I looked it up, and it's true. I'll never look at bonfires the same again.
7. "They didn't say any of that at the funeral. So, they left out all the bad stuff. And all the good stuff. They didn't say how funny she was. How she would wink at you from across the breakfast table. She had a sweet tooth and a dirty laugh. And she loved me so hard it hurt...She was my anchor. And then, I suppose, she was my burden. She hung onto me, until she let go. And soon I'll let go too."
In this quote, Owen commemorates his mother at the bonfire, who passed after many years of living with dementia.
Funerals gloss over the bad stuff, and often the good stuff too. They are perfect. People aren't, and it's often those imperfections and eccentricities that we love and remember most about them.
8. "I wasn't going to ask you if you're alright because I don't like being lied to. So, what's wrong?"
Finally, someone said it.
9. "You don't have to lose yourself to find happiness, you know."
Seriously. Don't lose yourself looking for happiness, especially in others...
10. "Everyone is exhaustive. Even the best ones. Sometimes, once in a blue goddamn moon I guess, someone, like this moonflower, just might be worth it."
Caring about people is a lot of effort. Sometimes, they're simply not worth it. But, sometimes... they are.
11. "Humans are organic. We are meant to die. It's natural. Beautiful. And it all breaks down, and rises back up, and breaks down again. And every living thing grows out of every dying thing. We leave more life behind us to take our place... Like this moonflower. That's where all it's beauty lies, you know, in the mortality of the thing."
Like the moonflower- that only blooms twice a year, each flower only once- humans too only live once. That's what's so beautiful about it.
12. "How far away is India?""It's farther than I'll miss you, but closer than goodbye."
Love keeps you close, no matter how far.
13. "One day at a time is what we've got. It's what everybody's got, if you get down to it."
Words to live by.
14. "All things fade. All things. Flesh, stone, even the stars themselves. Time takes all things. It is the way of the world."
Time is fleeting, and it waits for no one.
15. "If you can't feel anything, then I'll feel everything for the both of us. But no one is going anywhere, okay?"
The selflessness of love at its finest.
16. "You shouldn't be thinking of losing each-other at all. Don't let that loom over your happiness right now. Enjoy that easy silence with him. It is rare what you've got. But, when the time does come... it will be hard every day and it won't get easier. But... eventually, after some time, you'll find little moments, little pieces of life that remind you of him... and you'll hold them tight. It'll be like he's here with you, even though he's gone."
The present is a gift, you have nothing else. Be present now. Enjoy what you have. Whatever will be, will be. Loss is hard, but the memories we make now will get us by.
17. "You said it was a ghost story. It isn't. It's a love story."“Same thing, really."
Same thing, really.
*Drops the mic.*