Self-Inflicted Hell/Quotes

The doors of Hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of Hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man 'wishes' to be happy: but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good.

—CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Azrael: Human, have you ever been to Hell? I think not. Did you know that Hell was once nothing more than the absence of God? And if you'd ever been in his presence, you'd realise that's punishment enough. But then your kind came along, and made it so. Much. Worse.
Bethany: Humans aren't capable of one-hundredth the evil a shitbag demon like you is. (spits in his face)

Azrael: (quietly) Evil...is an ABSTRACT! It's a HUMAN construct! But, true to his irresponsible nature, man won't own up to being its engineer, so he blames his dark deeds on my ilk. But it's not enough to shatter his own existence, no, he turned Hell into a suffering pit! And why? Because it is beyond your abilities to simply make personal recompense for the sins you commit! No, you choose rather to create a psychodrama and dwell in a foundless belief that (mockingly) "God could never forgive your grievous offences." So you bring your guilt and your inner decay with you to Hell, where the horrid imaginations of so many gluttons for punishment gave birth to the sickness that has infected the Abyss since the first one of your kind arrived there, begging to be punished. And in doing so, they've transformed the cold and solitude to pain and misery! I've spent EONS privy to the flame, inhaling the decay, hearing the wail of the damned! I KNOW! WHAT EFFECT! SUCH HORRORS HAVE! ON THE DELICATE PSYCHE OF AN ANGELIC BEING!....I'd rather not exist than go back to that.

—Dogma, (deleted scene)

"I am Breschau of Livonia. I ripped out the tongues of those who spoke against me, and cut the unborn babes from the wombs of my enemies women, that they would not become warriors to rise against me. I took my mother by force, and I strangled my sister when she would not consent to my advances. Soon my name was whispered in the night by mothers to terrify their babes into obedience, I am Breschau, who bathed in the blood of children. I am Breschau, who forced the true prophets of the lord to dance upon plates of hot iron, under which fires were burning, and I laughed as they danced. I am Breschau, and when my mistress was unfaithful to me, I cut the nose from her face and wore it about my neck. As for the woman, I had her sewn to her lover, and, skin to skin, I left them in the desert to be eaten by ravens, and I laughed as I heard them scream. I am Breschau, and this is my punishment."

—Breschau, to Lucifer and Dream, as to why Breschau refuses to leave Hell despite being freed by Lucifer, in The Sandman #23: "Seasons of Mist: Episode 2"