"My life -- my family -- is just part of a book! Another white asshole deciding what I get to do, how I get to do it. I'll never be free of this story! From him!"

"I neglected my family for my job. I was too thrilled by the cases, the mysteries. I liked how dangerous the work was. And now that danger has destroyed my family. It killed my daughter!"

"It's not true. It's just a fucking story, it's not true!"

"With dead men coming alive, the word "ritual" starts to have more weight behind it."

"It's for us... the text is about us."

"Not a bad place to get murdered."

"[to Jesse Faden / The Sibling] Hello, sister. I would like to tell you about a dream I had."

"[as The Writer, to Rose Marigold / The Waitress, delivered through a deer] I knew you, my number one fan, would never fall victim to my twisted brother's lies. His hatred for me is as inexplicable as the sunrise... and just as fiery. But I knew your heart would never waver. You're the only one who can save me. I believe in you."

"[as The Writer, to Rose Marigold / The Waitress, delivered through a Billy Bass] It's me, your favorite writer whose voice you would recognize in your sleep! I'm in danger. Please, my number one fan, you're the only one who can save me!"

"And so I return. With me, I bear the torch of knowledge. The light -- the miracle illuminated. The master of two worlds. No. The master of many worlds."

"It has taken so. Long. The process to change reality is so delicate, to be true in just the right way and still find a way past our flaws. So many drafts. So many photographs. So many lives lived outside of time -- an eternity apart on the journey to finally arrive here"

"A fictional poet once said "Beyond the shadow you settle for, there is a miracle, illuminated." I will not settle for a shadow. I will find the miracle, through the night. It's not just victims and monsters; I see now, there are heroes as well. We can find our way through the darkness. We will break through the surface and crash into the light."

"It's not a loop; it's a spiral."

"This is how we win. Is it too easy? What if this is still the Dark Place? Another dream to wake up from. Always coming back to the beginning. The memory of what came before burned away by this terrible realization. Maybe it's a mercy, forgetting. To know nothing when we loop around, back to--"

"We are none the wiser. No answers, no truths. The hero looks inside, is destroyed by what he sees, and is redeemed. Saga said we're both heroes. I'll pay that price, so will she. We are here to kill the monster. I pray nothing comes after this. Nothing but sleep."

"What if there's nothing waiting to be revealed? The play of shadows fooled us all; subterfuge to get our price of admission. Darkness, not as a monster, but as emptiness."

"[to Scratch] C'mon, you motherfucker! C'mon! Come home!"

"In 2010, I had dived in -- a leap of faith. For Alice. With no idea that the cost would be a nightmare worse than death. It had taken me thirteen years to get out. Now Alice was dead because of me. And I was gonna make that leap again, this time knowing the cost all too well. Another way to look at it: I had brought the Dark Place here with me. I never had gotten out. Maybe after this, I finally could. It was a fool's hope. I had no choice, I had to do it. It didn't make me any less terrified."

"I'd driven down this road before. Been driving on it forever."

"I was back exactly where I left. A dark forest outside Bright Falls. A gun in one hand, a flashlight in the other. Haunted by my own writing. Alice taken from me. I knew what I had to do. Stop the horror story from coming true. Stop the Dark Presence."

"It's time someone gave me a straight answer here!"

"It's called "Return" because... we return."

"What the fuck?!"

"How do you run from an idea? From a thought? From a story that lives in your head? You can't escape your fears. You carry your monsters with you. The devil on your back, it's in you. You're running right back to it -- a loop. I need to stop. Stop running. Stop writing. I won't write another word. It's too dangerous, only horror comes out of it. People get hurt. I will let the currents of this ocean wash me away."

"I'm lost! I'm lost in the dark, drowning. I'm drowning... I'm drowning, no way out. There's no way out. Sinking deeper and deeper and deeper, this is hell. I'm in hell, I died. I wish I was dead, let me die, I just wanna sleep! Please, let me sleep! I'm so tired-- I just wanna go home, I've written so much. I write and I write, there's nothing left! It's all gone! I don't know how to write. All the words are gone, there's no more words, where'd they go? Did I eat the words? I don't recognize these words anymore. Are the words moving? Oh, God, this is familiar. Why is this familiar? I-- I've been here before. Have I said this before? I've read this somewhere. Where am I? Who am I? "Alan Wake". "Wake"? That's a strange name, "A. Wake," that sounds like a character's name! Did I-- What, did I-- I write that name up, I make that what-- name up? I don't wanna be a character, I-- I don't wanna be in this story, just write me out of the story!"

"I dive to the bottom to find the answer, the map-- the map and the key and the compass is combined to form a door leading out! But how do you open a door that's not a door? At the bottom of an ocean that's not an ocean in a lake... that's not a lake?"

"How many writers does it take to finish a story? One for each draft. It's the same writer, but at a different point in time."