In 3.06 Band Candy, the Scoobies run into Principal Snyder who is giving students chocolate to sell. Xander says:

“You weren’t visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, by any chance?” …

In the Angel episode, 1.17 Eternity, we see Cordelia acting her way (badly) through Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House. The play is a critical look at Victorian marriages, concentrating on …

In 5.19 Tough Love, Willow mentions Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Girls, which was a strict Victorian school in the book A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Wesley reads A Little …

Spike references famous crime novelist Agatha Christie in 5.06 The Cautionary Tale Of Numero Cinco when he says,

“Doesn’t leave much to do other than watching blokes stumble around playing Agatha …

In 4.21 Primeval, Spike says:

“Alice heads back down the rabbit hole.”

He’s referring to Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, about a girl named Alice who sees a …

In 1.03 In The Dark, Cordelia says to Doyle:

“I think the trick is laying of the ale before you start quoting Angela’s Ashes and weeping like a baby man.”

Angela’s …

Anne Rice was the author of a popular best-selling series of vampire novels, including Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. In 2.03 School Hard, Spike …

When Cordelia calls Penn “Apt Pupil boy” in 1.11 Somnambulist, she is referring to the novel Apt Pupil by Stephen King. In the book, a young man searches out a Nazi …

In 3.14 Couplet, before cutting Groo’s hair, Cordelia says:

“Okay. So, we lose the Battlefield Earth hair, and get you out of these animal skins, and it’ll be a whole new you!”

She …

The title of the episode 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts comes from the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.

In 3.09 The Wish, Cordelia unwittingly made a wish to vengeance demon Anyanka. She wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Later, Anyanka, admiring her work, said:

“Brave New World. …

In 3.04 Beauty And The Beasts, Buffy reads quotes from Jack London’s 1903 novel The Call of the Wild. The story is told from the point of view of Buck, a …

In the episode 3.20 The Prom, Tucker Wells tried to ruin the School Prom by training hellhounds to attack people wearing tuxedoes. Buffy says she’s “Gotta stop a crazy from pulling …

In 4.22 Home, Lilah says to Angel:

“Come on, Charlie. Let me show you around the Chocolate Factory.”

This is a reference to Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, …

In 5.10 Into The Woods, Xander mentions Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov (1860-1904):

“The chimp playing hockey? Is that based on the Chekov?”

Chekhov’s plays include The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters and …

In 3.16 Doppelgangland, Willow says “I’m a bloodsucking fiend! Look at my outfit!” This might be a reference to the 1996 book Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore, about …

In the episode 2.11 Ted, the Scoobies have a discussion about Buffy killing a person that follows as such:

Cordelia: “I don’t get it, Buffy’s the slayer shouldn’t she have - …

In 2.02 Some Assembly Required, Giles tries to think of a way to ask Jenny Calendar on a date. Overhearing him, Buffy suggests he say:

Buffy: “Hey, I got a thing, you …

In 5.20 Spiral, Xander tells Spike, “Or you can be Undead Man Walking”, which is a reference to the book Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean, which was made into …

Death of a Salesman is a play by Arthur Miller, first performed in 1949. It is the story of the final days of Willy Loman, an unhappy travelling salesman. The …