Nightmare Before Christmas Quotes That Give You Holiday Spookiness All Year

Nightmare Before Christmas quotes are apt reading for anytime of the year.

Christmas comes but once per year. Yet when it is over, the bleak, gray, cold days of winter linger on, and we long for the festive atmosphere of the holiday season. That is where Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas comes in. It does not matter if it is Christmas Eve or the Fourth of July, this spooky holiday classic is a fun way to have movie night anytime.

Aside from being one of  the best classics out there to celebrate Halloween, Christmas, or anything in between with, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas has a plethora of unforgettable quotes to go along with its unusual theme. We have put together this fun list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes that will entertain you all year long!

A Bit About The Nightmare Before Christmas

The story behind Tim Burton’s Disney classic The Nightmare before Christmas is an interesting one. In fact, this very story is part of what makes this movie so incredibly special. In fact, the concept for the movie came long before the movie itself. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was not originally a movie at all, but a poem that Burton came up with around the year 1982, way back when he was still an animator for Disney.

Burton says the inspiration for the poem was born of something that many Americans seem to lament more and more each year, which is the rush to take down Halloween decorations so that they can get right to Christmas. Burton would witness this phenomenon, just like we all do, as America skips right over Thanksgiving and full swing into the season of holly, mistletoe and jingle bells, usually to the tune of the almighty dollar as the end goal.

This was an experience that was compounded by Burton’s childhood, which took place in Burbank, California. Often, the greed of the retail industry meant that Halloween decorations and Christmas fare would share the shelves, at least for a little while, in stores during Burton’s formative years. To that end, this gloriously spooky, campy tale starring Jack Skellington, later to be known as the Pumpkin King, was born.

The Original Poem Had Just Three Characters

Of course, the famous version of Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas was a full length, booming feature film. However, the original poem version was just the simple plot of Jack Skellington accidentally discovering Christmas Town, and devising a plot to take Santa Claus’s place. In this version, only Jack Skellington, Santa Claus, and Jack’s dog Zero are the main characters.

The baseline story is the same, of course. A bored and wayward Jack has Santa Claus kidnapped and almost ruins Christmas out of his own bitterness and jealousy This sets the stage for what is in store for all of us, though, and here we are enjoying it all of these years later. 

Tim Burton Did Not Actually Direct The Film We All Came To Love

Remember, The Nightmare Before Christmas was conceived of as Tim Burton’s brainchild long before the idea of it actually becoming a movie was a twinkle in anyone’s eye. However, the fact that Disney attached Burton’s name to the title makes people think he directed it. He did not. A man named Henry Selick, who worked in the animation division of Disney alongside Burton in the early 1980’s, was actually the director.

Tim Burton produced the film, and with it having his signature macabre character style and plot line, he was more than worthy of getting the honor of having his name in lights next to the film’s title. Further, it was likely not lost on Disney just how much more profitable such an unusual film idea would be with a name like Tim Burton’s attached to the title. After all, that is a name whose mention alone will bring throngs of people to the box office with the hopes of being among the first to witness Burton’s latest piece of film making genius. 

Insightful Quotes From The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, like any great movie, has some pretty memorable quotes. Often, the most memorable quotes from movies stick with us because they actually relate to real life in some way. There is not shortage of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes to fill that bill for sure.

Jack Skellington, the star of the whole thing, could represent any one of us at any point where we reach a lull of dissatisfaction – or even just a simple lack of excitement – in life. After all, we’ve all felt a little antsy at some point or other. What happens to Jack, and the realizations he comes to, could be a representation of any human being who has ever thought the grass might be greener in someone else’s pasture. So, without further ado, here are some of the best Nightmare Before Christmas quotes ever. 

1. “Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it!”​-Jack Skellington, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

First place on this list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes goes to Jack Skellington. This is one that can be applied to the real world, because it addresses the childlike wonder of people who can still believe in make-believe. It is children who can teach us so much in t his realm. Anyone who still has an imagination that can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny definitely has a pure enough mind to where we could all learn a little something. Obviously, adults don’t need to believe in something as ridiculous as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Jack Skellington, Halloween Town, or any of the rest, but it is the sense of wonder that matters here.

Adults often become cynical very quickly. That which gives us pleasure is in the here and now. We never stop to think that there could be more to life, something bigger and deeper, if only we just took a second to believe. That is why children add so much to the magic of the holiday season. they have a capacity to believe in the impossible in ways most adults simply do not and cannot. When Jack Skellington expresses his ability to believe in that which he cannot see, he makes an important point about what the world really is, versus how we perceive it. 

2. “Jack, please I’m only an elected official here, I can’t make decisions by myself!”​–Mayor of Halloween Town, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

This is a particularly funny and true to life line on this list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes. We always talk about how useless politicians are in times of strife or crisis, and how they do nothing. That is something that seems to be true even in a fantasy land like Halloween Town.

The Mayor of Halloween Town had no real power to control the likes of Jack Skellington and his hair brained ideas when it came to stopping the events that Jack set in motion, just like we have no power to control the more catastrophic things that politicians tend to do in the interest of their own  political gain. This quote definitely belongs on any list of Nightmare before Christmas quotes because it reminds us that politicians are only human beings, too.

That brings me to the real world point here. While elected officials have an enormous amount of power over our lives, much of it manifesting itself in spectacularly damaging ways at times. However, they are all likely, at least in their own ways, doing what they think is right for society (and, let’s face it, also themselves, usually above all else).

However, we also have to realize that thought it may feel like it, elected officials are not superhuman. It may feel like it sometimes, but they are human beings just likes, with their own strengths, weaknesses, and fallibility.  When crisis strikes, their first instinct is to wonder how their action or inaction will affect them politically. But, often, on an individual basis, they have very little power to do anything that will actually help. We’d all do well to heed the quote from the mayor of Halloween Town and remember that they will likely be able to do very little, if anything, to avert a crisis.

3. “Oh somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow. There’s something out there far from my home. A longing that I’ve never known.”​–Jack Skellington, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

This particular item on this list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes is pretty amazing. There is likely not a human being on this earth that has not, at some point in their life, has not felt like Jack Skellington did. There is a restlessness, a boredom, that is impossible to shake. That longing can grow, and we can begin to feel like we are missing something profound in our lives. That feeling can lead to impulsive, reckless behavior, and in turn the hatching of very ill-advised ideas.

That is what happened to Jack Skellington. He was tired, listless, and bored with Halloween Town and his duties there, so when he found Christmas Town, he was in bliss. In fact, the “What’s This?” song that Jack sang when he first discovered Christmas Town seems like the “aha!” moment that we all have when we think we have found what we have been looking for.

Of course, as we later learn in the movie, Jack had not found anything but trouble. He hadn’t gotten his wish, as he initially sang.  He only thought he had. Sometimes, taking risks and being impulsive is great. At other times, as we learn from Jack, acting on impulse can have catastrophic results. So, when we get that restless feeling, we should all learn to think twice first. 

4. “And sit together, now and forever. For it is plain, as anyone can see, we’re simply meant to be.”​-Jack Skellington, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

Here we are with another Jack Skellington quote, and this one definitely has real life implications as well. The entire premise of the movie was a “grass is greener on the other side” scenario. Jack is bored with his own life, and with Halloween Town and their annual spooky display, and so he hatches a plot to take over Christmas from Santa Claus. However, the whole thing goes horribly wrong, and Jacks version of Christmas nearly ruins it for everyone, and it turns entire towns into chaos. After that debacle, Jack learns that he was where he was meant to be, whether he thought so at the time or not.

Of course, this quote comes at the end,  when Jack finally gets together with Sally, whose vision had already warned of the disastrous nature of Jack’s so-called “Christmas.” The beautiful part that makes this one of the best Nightmare Before Christmas quotes is the fact that it could teach a valuable lesson in so many ways. We might look at the lives of others, be they friends from  high school or college, celebrities, relatives, or anyone else, and with they were our own. However, we are all, somehow, living the lives we are supposed to be living. Jack’s lesson teaches us a ghoulish holiday version of that. Cherish what you have and value who you are. Change what you desire to change, but for that which you have no control over, leave well enough alone. You are right where you should be.

5. “But it all seems wrong to me. Very wrong.”​-Sally, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sally was the moral compass, so to speak, in this iconic film classic. She was also in love with Jack Skellington. Sally had a vision that showed her what a catastrophic disaster Jack’s plot to kidnap Santa Claus and take over Christmas would be. But this particular line on the list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes is much deeper than that. This is about morality, pure and simple.

Sally knew on a visceral level that no matter his reasons for doing so, Jack’ plot was simply wrong. All of the denizens of the various holiday towns had their place and purpose for existing. No matter how they felt about that, it was the way it was. to that end, Jack Skellington’s plot to upset the natural balance between the holiday towns was doomed to not only fail, but destroy the world’s holidays.

Now, in a real world sense, it could be argued that no one has to simply accept the place they were born into in society. In fact, entire social justice movements have sprung up with the intent of making sure that people don’t have to simply accept any station in life just because of the circumstances of their birth. However, any sane or decent person would argue and agree that kidnapping and taking over things by force like Jack Skellington did is in no way a moral path to justice for all. So, in our quest to achieve our dreams, we must remember that there must also be morality. Sally’s quote here just may be the most important on this list of Nightmare Before Christmas quotes. 

Nightmare Before Christmas quotes are more than just fun analysis of lines from a great holiday classic.

While we like to think of the film as a great way to have a little of the macabre spookiness of Halloween mixed in with the awesome fantasy and magic of Christmas, it is so much  more than that. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a brilliant commentary on the greed of retailers and their opportunistic capitalizing on holiday traditions. Their corporate greed drives them to do this by making the seasons last as long as possible so that they can make as much money as possible.

This is an American travesty that we all participate in with glee every year, and the movie was born of Burton’s observation of that. It is also a commentary on morality, instinct, good, evil, mistakes, and basic humanity. Through Jack, Sally, Zero, Santa, and all the rest, we learn some life balance, and should all take much deeper and more valuable lessons from this brilliant movie than we normally would. The world just might be a better place for it. 

If you enjoyed these Nightmare Before Christmas quotes, feel free to let us know in the comments, and lease share on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media. 

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