Brian Selznick Quotes & Sayings

But he'd never seen anything like this before. And he'd never felt anything like it, either. The closest he could think of was when he and Blink were immersed in a book together. Sometimes a strange feeling would come over them as they'd race through the pages, and the words would dissolve, and they'd find themselves deep inside Oz, or Narnia, or the Andes, or Africa, where everything was real and vidid and alive.
Stories could do that, but this wasn't story. This was a house. And no matter how real a story seemed, you still couldn't eat the food, or pick up the plates, or warm yourself by the fire. — Brian Selznick

I've always loved the wild rumpus in 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak, because the words disappear, the pictures take up the whole page, and we move forward in the story by turning the pages. — Brian Selznick

Standing on the roof at night, beside the golden ship
I look across the city and I dream a wild trip.
The waves are high, the wind is strong, the moon is white and full.
I smell the salt upon the sea, a strong magnetic pull.
I shout into the endless dark, awaiting the reply:
'Away! Away' It says: 'Away! Now spread your wings and fly. — Brian Selznick

She walked to the rear door and took out a bobby pin from her pocket. Hugo watched as she fiddled with the pin inside the lock until it clicked and the door opened. "How did you learn to do that?" asked Hugo. "Books," answered Isabelle. — Brian Selznick

Maybe the play wasn't about miracles. No, maybe it was about the passage of time, and the need for patience, and the ability to forgive. Maybe Shakespeare was saying that even in a world where miracles can happen, there's still going to be pain, and loss, and regret. Because sometimes people die and you can't bring them back. That's what life is Joseph realized, miracles and sadness, side by side. — Brian Selznick

What interests me about clocks is that everything is hand-made, and yet to the person looking at the clock, something magical is happening that cannot be explained unless you are the clockmaker. — Brian Selznick

The idea of going to the movies made Hugo remember something Father had once told him about going to the movies when he was just a boy, when the movies were new. Hugo's father had stepped into a dark room, and on a white screen he had seen a rocket fly right into the eye of the man in the moon. Father said he had never experienced anything like it. It had been like seeing his dreams in the middle of the day. — Brian Selznick

Amber starts off as sap from a tree," Joseph said in the dark. "And sometimes insects get caught in it, and over millions of years the amber turns into a gemstone, but it traps the insect inside."
"Oh."
"A photograph is sort of like that, don't you think? — Brian Selznick

I've been taking art lessons since I was little, and I've always drawn. I think in pictures. — Brian Selznick

If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made. — Brian Selznick

Maybe we are all cabinets of wonders. — Brian Selznick

My house had suddenly turned into a hospital ward. — Brian Selznick

I majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, although I never had any intention of being an illustrator and didn't take any classes in illustration there. It was just that the illustration degree had no requirements. — Brian Selznick

The orphan in children's literature allows the child protagonist to move the story forward themselves. I think that, however happy a family, every intelligent child thinks: 'How did I come to be born to these parents?' - it is about finding your place in the world. — Brian Selznick

You can make up your own story when you look at a photo. — Brian Selznick

The machine was so intricate, so complicated, that he almost got dizzy looking at it. Even in its sad state of disrepair, it was beautiful. — Brian Selznick

Ben had never seen his mother cry before, and it startled him, so he didn't ask again. Right afterward she'd put on her favorite record and played a mysterious song called "Space Oddity," about an astronaut named Major Tom who gets lost in space. She used to listen to the song over and over again. With her eyes closed, she'd place the palm of her hand against the fabric of the speaker, so she could feel it vibrate against her skin. — Brian Selznick

I think from an early age I was aware of how a camera can tell a story, how a movie camera can affect how the narrative is told. — Brian Selznick

Well, everything surprises me about the writing process because illustrating comes much more naturally to me than writing does. — Brian Selznick

I think the most important thing you can do is to keep drawing no matter what. And to not be afraid of drawing whatever interests you. If there is something that you want to draw, to make, then I think you should pursue it and not let anybody tell you that you can't do it. — Brian Selznick

In that moment, the machinery of the world lined up. Somewhere a clock struck midnight, and Hugo's future seemed to fall perfectly into place. — Brian Selznick

It's fun to see how other artists adapt my work. — Brian Selznick

Sometimes, I have themes that interest me or that touch on larger issues but, really, I'm just trying to figure out the plot, or how the characters work. I'm trying to make the best story I possibly can. — Brian Selznick

I hope the snow covers everything so all the footsteps are silenced, and the whole city can be at peace. — Brian Selznick

You either see it or you don't — Brian Selznick

But I'm a fairly mechanical worker - I tend not to think about themes so much as plot. I want to get the feeling right. If it's moving through tunnels, I ask myself, what is it like to move through tunnels? — Brian Selznick

I definitely think my work comes from things that I liked as a kid, and things I still like now. Monsters and magic and museums and movies, a lot of things that start with 'M' for some reason. — Brian Selznick

It looks like the whole city is made out of stars. — Brian Selznick

A lot of times, people complain about how books and stories change when they're translated to the screen. But I think sometimes people forget that a lot of changes have to be made because we're not in a book when we're watching a movie. — Brian Selznick

A friend suggested that I get a job at a children's book store so I could meet kids and read books, and that turned out to be the single best bit of advice I've ever gotten. — Brian Selznick

For most of my career I illustrated books for other people. — Brian Selznick

I think I always knew that I would do something with art because it was the one thing that I knew I was really good at. — Brian Selznick

I knew I had to break up with Ann Rosenberg after she chose a teal dress for the prom. I had never heard of teal. Also, I was gay. — Brian Selznick

Albert shrugged, but Joseph could sense a world of things his uncle wasn't saying. — Brian Selznick

Once I'm given an idea for a story I have a million ideas on how it should be illustrated, but I don't have a big shoebox full of unfinished ideas. — Brian Selznick

I love being an illustrator because I get to read really great stories, work with amazing people, travel and see places I never would've seen. And I get to draw all the time. — Brian Selznick

Ben wished the world was organized by the Dewey decimal system. That way you'd be able to find whatever you were looking for. — Brian Selznick

But there are other stories waiting to be told, and they will be lost one day, too. Whatever the case, it's all beneath your feet, right now. — Brian Selznick

Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do ... Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose ... it's like your broken. — Brian Selznick

Hugo headed off toward the door to leave, but the bookstore was warm and quiet, and the teetering piles of books fascinated him. — Brian Selznick

What would it be like to pick and choose the objects and stories that would go into your own cabinet? — Brian Selznick

Like a mermaid rising from an ocean of paper, the girl emerged across the room. — Brian Selznick

Fairy tales only happen in movies.
-George Melies
from The Invention of Hugo Cabret — Brian Selznick

The light bounced off the water and shimmered against the buildings on the other side of the river. Joseph walked, listening to the sound of what was beneath his feet, and soon he noticed he was alone. He turned and saw Frankie had stopped beside Albert and filled her jacket pockets. Looking at the two of them, Joseph wondered for a moment if Leo had ever come down here to go mudlarking, his red hair shining in the sun. the vision seemed so vivid, but then Joseph remembered that Leo wasn't real, and the boy dissolved like smoke into the winter sky. — Brian Selznick

Having an eye patch actually makes it easier to look through a camera - I don't have to close one eye like everyone else. — Brian Selznick

Then you know Prometheus was rescued in the end. His chains were broken, and he was finally set free." The old man squinted one of his eyes and added, "How about that? — Brian Selznick

I think everything belongs in a certain place, for kids who feel they don't belong anywhere. A museum is an institution like a library where everything has a place, everything belongs. — Brian Selznick

So after some instruction, Joseph put on the apron and started carefully polishing the clean dishes even though it made no sense to him.
Over the course of the day, he learned how to wash the floors and clean the windows and empty out the iron stove. Soon the kitchen smelled of lemons and spices, fresh bread and soap.
There was a short break for lunch before resuming work. The light shifted during the afternoon and cascaded through the clean windows, burnishing the room with gold.
Joseph was so focused on the work, on the patters of the silverware and the curve of the handles on the ancient pitchers and measuring cups, that he forgot for a little while about his parents, and St. Anthony's, and the fire, and losing Blink. He felt a kind of pride in being allowed to touch all the delicate glassware, plates, and bowls, and he hadn't broken a single thing. — Brian Selznick

Even if all the clocks in the station break down, thought Hugo, time won't stop. Not even if you really want it to.
Like now. — Brian Selznick

Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason?" he asked Isabelle. "They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder like the automaton. Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was made to do." Isabelle picked up the mouse, wound it again, and set it down. "Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose ... it's like you're broken. — Brian Selznick

Time is supposed to move forwards.'

'What if I don't like what happens?'

'Then...you change it. — Brian Selznick

We are all cabinets of wonders. — Brian Selznick

A lot of people who don't write for kids think it's easy, because they think kids aren't as smart as they are, or that you have to dumb down what you would normally write for kids. But I think you have to work harder when you write for kids, to make sure every word is right, that it's there for the right reason. — Brian Selznick

Maybe, thought Ben, we are all cabinets of wonders. — Brian Selznick

He wished he was with his mom in her library, where everything was safe and numbered and organized by the Dewey decimal system. Ben wished the world was organized by the Dewey decimal system. That way you'd be able to find whatever you were looking for, like the meaning of your dream, or your dad. — Brian Selznick

Hugo learned that Prometheus had created humankind out of mud, and then stolen fire from the gods as a gift for the people he had made, so they could survive. So Prometheus was a thief. — Brian Selznick

Time can play all sorts of tricks on you. In the blink of an eye, babies appear in carriages, coffins disappear into the ground, wars are won and lost, and children transform, like butterflies, into adults. — Brian Selznick

I think when I'm drawing, I'm seeing what's happening on the page almost as if it were unfolding like a movie in my head. — Brian Selznick

I've always loved children's books - it's not that I didn't like them, I just didn't think I wanted to do that. But then I suddenly realized I did ... — Brian Selznick

Since I spend such a long time making each book, I only choose books that I'm really interested in and that I really love. — Brian Selznick

I address you all tonight for who you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers. — Brian Selznick

I love illustrating for other writers because I am given stories I never would have thought of, and my work as an illustrator is always in support of the story. — Brian Selznick

Maybe we're all cabinets of wonders. — Brian Selznick

I guess I see a part of myself in everyone I write about. I tend to write about kids who are obsessed with something, and even though I have never been good with machines the way Hugo is, I did love miniature things when I was a kid. — Brian Selznick

I can draw pencil lines to show something is moving, but if I'm writing, I struggle with how to write it. The boy ran down the hallway? The boy ran quickly down the hallway? The boy ran down the marble hallway? I agonize over the words. So my editor works very hard. I'm lucky to have her. — Brian Selznick