101 Best Alan Moore Quotes From The King Of Comics

Moumita Dutta
Dec 12, 2023 By Moumita Dutta
Originally Published on Jan 12, 2021
Edited by Monisha Kochhar
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Joker statue in front of a print from the graphic novel by Alan Moore

Alan Moore is a legendary British comic book writer and novelist, whose wealth lies in his knowledge and the adulation of his fans!

With iconic works under his belt, Alan Moore has been an inspiration to many. His works have been made into marvelous movies and animated films, as well as being adapted into other mediums.

Although primarily known for writing DC projects like "Watchmen", "Saga Of The Swamp Thing", "Batman: The Killing Joke", Moore also wrote for Marvel UK as a freelancer in the early '80s. His other iconic works include "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "V For Vendetta".

He has also written fiction. These Alan Moore quotes from these comics and novels will have a special place in people's hearts! Scroll down to find that Alan Moore quote you are looking for!

For more articles, check out Stephen King quotes and Sci Fi quotes.

Famous Alan Moore Quotes

Look at some of the finest Alan Moore quotes.

1. "Technology is always a two-edged sword. It will bring in many benefits, but also many disasters."

- Alan Moore.

2. "To me, all creativity is magic. Ideas start out in the empty void of your head - and they end up as a material thing, like a book you can hold in your hand."

- Alan Moore.

3. "My experience of life is that it is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel."

- Alan Moore.

4. "Language comes first. It's not that language grows out of consciousness, if you haven't got language, you can't be conscious."

- Alan Moore.

5. "I’m sure that you could write ninety per cent of pop songs without having any grasp of anything beyond the top ten, really."

- From a 2000 interview with Blather.net.

6. "Because our entire universe is made up of consciousness, we never really experience the universe directly we just experience our consciousness of the universe, our perception of it, so right, our only universe is perception."

- Alan Moore.

7. "I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about."

- 'Alan Moore On His Work & Career,' 2007.

8. "That pompous phrase (graphic novel) was thought up by some idiot in the marketing department of DC. I prefer to call them Big Expensive Comics."

- Alan Moore.

9. "There is an inverse relationship between imagination and money."

- MTV interview circa 2004.

10. "The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting."

- Alan Moore.

11. "Because things that we do without lust of result are the purest actions we shall ever take."

- From the documentary, 'The Mindscapes Of Alan Moore,' 2003.

12. "Admittedly, I do have several bones... whole war fields full of bones, in fact... to pick with organised religion of whatever stripe."

- in 'Correspondence: From Hell,' 2003.

13. "The only place that you seem to find anything of any value is at the margins of any of these cultures, at the fringes of pop and of cinema and comics and books."

- From a 2000 interview with Blather.net.

14. "Now, as I understand it, the bards were feared. They were respected, but more than that they were feared."

- in a 2005 interview.

15. "Whereas Stan Lee had this huge breakthrough of two-dimensional characters. So, they dress up in costumes and do good, but they've got a bad heart. Or a bad leg. I actually did think for a long while that having a bad leg was an actual character trait."

- in a 2005 BBC 4 radio interview.

16. "I despise the comic industry, but I will always love the comic medium."

- in a 2006 New York Press interview.

17. "To paint comic books as childish and illiterate is lazy. A lot of comic books are very literate - unlike most films."

- Independent article, 'Alan Moore: The Reluctant Hero', 15 March 2004.

Awesome Alan Moore Graphic Novel Quotes

Comic books in bookshelves

These are the Alan Moore quotes from many graphic novel and famous comic quotes written by Moore. You will also find awesome Swamp Thing quotes!

18. "So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable, remember there's always madness. Madness is the emergency exit."

- Joker, 'Batman: The Killing Joke,' 1988.

19. "National security is one of those magical little phrases it stops people worrying about what you're doing, where you're going."

- 'Saga Of The Swamp Thing,' 1984-87.

20. "I shall tell you where we are. We're in the most extreme and utter region of the human mind. A dim, subconscious underworld. A radiant abyss where men meet themselves. Hell, Netley. We're in Hell."

-  'From Hell,' 1989-1996.

21. "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day."

- Joker, 'Batman: The Killing Joke,' 1988.

22. "Fools, if nature were to shrug... or raise an eyebrow... then you should all be gone..."

- Swamp Thing #52.

23. "Invoke not reason. In the end it is too small a deity."

- 'From Hell,'1989-1996.

24. "Please, don't go. It's lonely. There's a hole in my head as big as the world and it's so very lonely..."

- 'Saga Of The Swamp Thing,' 1984-87.

25. "If I have to have a past, then I prefer it to be multiple choice."

- Joker, 'Batman: The Killing Joke,'1988.

26. "Perhaps this is the purpose of all art, all writing, on the murders, fiction and non-fiction: Simply to participate."

- 'From Hell,' 1989-1996.

27. "It’s all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for ... it’s all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can’t you see the funny side? Why aren’t you laughing?"

- Joker, 'Batman: The Killing Joke,'1988.

28. "You have waged bitter and undeclared war upon the green, gutting the rain forests, mile after mile, day after day, but know this: the war has come home! It is man's turn to embrace the scythe."

-  'Saga Of The Swamp Thing,'1984-87.

29. "I am not man so much as syndrome; as a voice that bellows in the human heart. I am rain. I cannot be contained."

- 'From Hell,'1989-1996.

30. "We gather in cemeteries, tense and silent as if for listening for the impact; the splash of a pebble dropped into a dark well, trying to measure its depth. Trying to measure how far we have to fall. "

-'Swamp Thing' #51-#56.

31. "Memories are what our reason is based upon. If we can’t face them, we deny reason itself! Although, why not? We aren’t contractually tied down to rationality!"

- Joker, 'Batman: The Killing Joke,' 1988.

32. "I came to talk. I've been thinking lately. About you and me. About what's going to happen to us, in the end. We're going to kill each other, aren't we?"

- Batman, 'Batman: The Killing Joker', 1988.

33. "The one place Gods inarguably exist is in our minds where they are real beyond refute, in all their grandeur and monstrosity."

- 'From Hell,' 1989-1996.

34. "Bond believes we are his pawns. He thinks no-one observes his game. But I am No-One. I observe everything, and to play with Nemo is to play games with Destruction."

- 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,' 1999.

35. "I am not loved, nor ever hope to be. Nor am I fool enough to think that what I feel for you is love. But in this world, alone, I do not hate you. And alone in this world, you do not hate me."

- 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,' 1999.

36. "How can two people hate so much without knowing each other?”

- 'Batman: The Killing Joke,'1988.

37. "In our narratives, we may signify without constraint."

- 'Providence #5,' 2015.

Best 'Watchmen' Comic Quotes (1986-87)

'Watchmen' was the groundbreaking comic written by Alan Moore. It is art in the form of a comic book. Here is a list of Watchmen quotes that are great Alan Moore quotes.

38. "The horror is this: In the end, it is simply a picture of empty meaningless blackness. We are alone. There is nothing else."

- Dr. Malcolm Long, Watchmen #6.

39. "Who makes the world? Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. Perhaps it simply is, has been, will always be there…a clock without a craftsman. It's too late. Always has been, always will be…too late."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #4.

40. "Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, 'Treatment is simple.

Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up.' Man bursts into tears. Says, 'But doctor...I am Pagliacci.'"

- Rorshach, Watchmen #1.

41. "In the end?" Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #12.

42. "Blake understood. Treated it like a joke, but he understood.

He saw the cracks in society, saw the little men in masks trying to hold it together … he saw the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a reflection of it, a parody of it. No one else saw the joke. That's why he was lonely."

- Rorshach, Watchmen #2.

43. "Shock of impact ran along my arm. Jet of warmth spattered on chest, like hot faucet."

- Rorshach, Watchmen #1.

44. "We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #9

45. "This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us."

- Rorshach, Watchmen #6

46. "Did you think it would kill me? I've walked across the surface of the sun. I've seen events so tiny and so fast they hardly can be said to have occurred at all. But you... you're just a man. And the world's smartest man poses no more threat to me than does its smartest termite."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #11.

47. "Real life is messy, inconsistent, and it's seldom when anything ever really gets resolved. It's taken me a long time to realize that."

- Hollis Mason, Watchmen #2.

48. "To answer your question, you get to be a superhero by believing in the hero within you and summoning him or her forth by an act of will."

- Ozymandias, Watchmen #11.

49. "For my own part, regret nothing. Have lived free, free from compromise...and step into the shadow now without complaint."

- Rorschach, Watchmen #10

50. "There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet."

- Doctor Manhattan.

51. "Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense."

- The Comedian, Watchmen #2.

52. "We have laboured long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #4.

53. "As I come to understand Vietnam and what it implies about the human condition, I also realize that few humans will permit themselves such an understanding."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #2.

54. "For you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the forces that shape all things leave their fingerprints most clearly."

- Doctor Manhattan, Watchmen #9.

55. "So many questions. Never mind. Answers soon. Nothing is insoluble. Nothing is hopeless. Not while there's life."

- Rorshach, Watchmen #2.

56. "Why do we argue? Life's so fragile, a successful virus clinging to a speck of mud, suspended in endless nothing."

- Dr. Malcolm Long.

57. "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."

- Rorshach, Watchmen #6.

Legendary 'V For Vendetta' Quotes

'V For Vendetta' changed the comic book world forever. The iconic graphic novel by Alan Moore is a treasure trove of great philosophical and spiritual Alan Moore quotes.

Quotes from 'V For Vendetta' are legendary quotes from comic books. Most of the quotes here are by V, the title character of 'V For Vendetta'. Scroll down to look at these quotes from 'V For Vendetta' and always remember that ideas are bulletproof!

58. "What was done to me created me. It's a basic principle of the Universe that every action will create an equal and opposing reaction."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

59. "Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody. Everybody has their story to tell."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

60. "Happiness is a prison, Evey. Happiness is the most insidious prison of all."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

61. "Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

62. "You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you! While I'll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

63. "The past can’t hurt you anymore. Not unless you let it. They made you into a victim, Evey. They made you into a statistic. But, that’s not the real you. That’s not who you are inside."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

64. "Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

65. "Remember, Remember, the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

66. "The merest touch, no more, and everything falls into place. The pieces can't perceive as we the mischief their arrangement tempts."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

67. "A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. Alone, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

68. "People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

69. "The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

70. "Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea...and ideas are bulletproof."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

71. "We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world."

- Evey, V For Vendetta'.

72. "Anarchy wears two faces, both Creator and Destroyer."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

73. "Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch, we are free."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

74. "You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

75. "Anarchy means "without leaders", not "without order". [...] This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

76. "God is in the rain."

- Evey, 'V For Vendetta'.

77. "Her name is Anarchy. And she has taught me more as a Mistress than you ever did! She has taught me that Justice is meaningless without Freedom. She is honest, she makes no promises and breaks none."

- V, 'V For Vendetta'.

Alan Moore Book Quotes

Here is a list of the best Alan Moore books quotes from the two novels written by Alan Moore.

78. "Places don’t stay where you left them. You go back there, anywhere, and even if it looks exactly how it did before, it’s somewhere else."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

79. "Above, great constellations wheeled to which our bonfire sparks ascended in their tiny mimicry."

- 'Voice of the Fire,' 1996.

80. "Ideas of self, ideas of world and family and nation, articles of scientific or religious faith, your creeds and currencies: one by one, the beloved structures falling."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

81. "The most probable of all my theorems, is that life is ordered by the principles of some religion so peculiar and obscure it has no followers, and none may fathom it, nor know the rituals by which to court its favour."

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

82. "The world would end as it began, as beatific arbour, and if any family crests or luminary busts or graven names of institutions were yet visible between the droning hives and honeysuckle, they would be by then wiped clean of any meaning."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

83. "Trust in the fictive process, in the occult interweaving of text and event must be unwavering and absolute. This is the magic place, the mad place at the spark gap between word and world."

- 'Voice of the Fire,' 1996.

84. "Love. His love for Cathy and the kids. That had been one of his protective mantras, he was certain, except love just made things crueller, gave you so much more to lose."

-  'Jerusalem,' 2016.

85. "Opens I mouth, for make noise in I's hurt, and say of fire is come through I, and rise, and rise, with grits of bright, in neath of old black sky."

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

86. "Significance was a phenomenon of Now that could not be contained inside an urn or monolith."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

87. "Although the fire is dead, these cinders are its voice."

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

88. "Each day and every deed’s eternal, little boy. Live them in such a way that you can bear to live with them eternally."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

89. "The brightest has a gathering of people stood about it. Trapped beneath their heels, stretched shadows shy back from the flames, yet do not jump or dance. What are they burning there, so still by night?"

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

90. "Meaning was a candlelight in everything that lurched and shifted in the circumstantial breezes of each instant, never twice the same."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

91. "Still, it is a fiction that we must inhabit. Lacking any territory that is not subjective, we can only live upon the map."

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

92.  "Give me a platform of ideas and harmonies on which to gesture and unfurl my wings. Give me a place to stand."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

93. "He would sooner live a life of endless blessing than one of dying curse, and after all, it was in how you chose to see things that the narrow border between Hell and Paradise was traced."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

94. "All that remains in question is whose map we choose, whether we live within the world's insistent texts or else replace them with a stronger language of our own."

- 'Voice Of The Fire,' 1996.

95. "We’re saints and sinners both, the lot of us, or else there’s no saints and no sinners."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

96. "It was a hurricane entirely of the present, an unending swirl of boiling change"

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

97. "History and language had become so flexible, wrenched back and forth to suit each new agenda, that it seemed as if they might just simply snap in half and leave us floundering in a sea of mad Creationist revisions and greengrocers’ punctuation."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

98. "It was as if life was one great big impersonal piece of machinery."

- 'Jerusalem,' 2016.

Quotes About Alan Moore

Here is a small list of famous quotes from authors about Alan Moore.

99. "If he could plot, we'd all have to get together and kill him."

- Chris Claremont.

100. "Some of them come out of the premieres looking like their children have been gassed...but I can’t think of anyone other than Alan Moore who’s returned a check."

- George R. R. Martin, Huffington Post, 2011.

101. "...Which utterly misses the most compelling part of Alan's writing, the way he develops and expresses ideas and character. Plot does not define story. Plot is the framework within which ideas are explored and personalities and relationships are unfolded."

- Warren Ellis, 'Bad Signal,' 2004.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Alan Moore Quotes, then why not take a look at these quotes that Batman fans should know, or the best Green Arrow quotes.

Main image credit: Kraft74 / Shutterstock.com

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Written by Moumita Dutta

Bachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

Moumita Dutta picture

Moumita DuttaBachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management

A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.

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