Anthony Horowitz Quotations

Once you get into the world of dystopia, it's hard to avoid plagiarism, because other people have had such powerful visions.

I love the idea that magic and witchcraft and battles between supernatural creatures could be raging all around us but just out of our sight.

I believe that, by and large, people are good and everybody you meet is more likely to surprise you in a positive way than in a negative way.

Writing about magic is harder than writing about spies because you're dealing with something that doesn't really exist.

I'm not very good at creating worlds. I prefer to write about the world as it is.

My perfect reader doesn't just read - he or she devours books.

I'm not happy unless I have a pen in my hand, it's really that simple.

My greatest fear is disappointing the reader, so each book has to be better than the one before.

I feel very privileged to have reached so many kids because a life without stories, without the power of books, would be a very grey world, it's good to add colour.

I have a great belief in not doing anything unless I'm passionate about it.

Until he lost all his money, my father was a successful north London Jewish businessman. He was unusual among his immediate family in that he was enormously cultured and had an incredible library.

I don't think my father was a bad man, all in all.

With every year that passes, I get further away from my target audience, and while I've been happy to think of myself as a father figure to these kids, I'd be a little distressed to be thought of as a grandfather figure.

I'm a private victim of a peculiar household.

Throughout history, story telling was at the very beginning of life.

My wife, Jill, and I have an incredibly close working relationship, and an incredibly happy married one. We met through work. I was the world's worst advertising copywriter. She had the misfortune to be my account director, so from the very start she was my boss, and she still is.

If you are going to be a writer, you have to have self-belief, every writer gets rejections, they say the difference between a successful and unsuccessful writer is an unsuccessful writer gives up, if you keep going you will succeed.

There's something very strange about Sherlock Holmes, especially if you're an English schoolboy. When you read the stories, they stay with you forever.

Do I believe in the devil? I don't believe in a figure with horns and a tail.

It is, of course, traditional in children's literature to get rid of the parents.

I didn't really have a favourite subject at school as I was useless at everything.

If my children were as unhappy as I was at school, I'd send them somewhere else, but it never occurred to my parents.

My favourite part of writing a book is thinking up the ideas, and that can start a long time before I actually sit down at my desk.

My generation has left the globe in a mess.

No writer can really sustain two huge - I hate the word 'franchises.'

You like to think with young adults that with your books, a little part of it has reached them and will stay with them. It is great to be part of an eight-year-old's world.

I had three brilliant English teachers at secondary school. They found the writer in me.

As a children's author, reviewers are generally very nice to you. I only ever wrote one adult book and received such a kicking for it that I was in trauma for the next six months.

Authors have odd relationships with their creations They owe their fame and fortune to their characters but feel enslaved by them.

It's hard to write when you think every sentence is going to be read by a million kids.

My father was aloof, very strange and very distant.

Relationships between writers and publishers are of course very strange and change all the time, rather like a see-saw.

I vividly remember being 14. That was the age when I started to get happy: I started being a writer and stopped being a loser.

I'm not a huge fan of prequels and sequels and the cynical rush to make money on the back of books by other writers who are now dead.

My writing has always been what you call 'narrative fiction' in the sense that it's got very strong plots and twists at the end.

Sometimes I think the family I was brought up in was 100 years out of date.

A children's author on a soapbox is not a pleasant sight but I have become drawn into issues, slightly unwillingly, relating to young people, literacy and youth justice: just look at the number of young people we have locked up in prison, and the uselessness of it.

If you look at Charles Dickens's time, there were so many different levels of society and everybody understood their place in it, it was that complex and simple. I'm not sure we have that now.

You don't need to be able to string a sentence together in a way that is elegant or even vaguely meaningful to produce a bestseller - as Dan Brown has demonstrated time and again.

He looked from the phone to the unconscious figure of the Salesman. "What did you do to him?" he asked. "He got the wrong number," Alex said.

What happened?" he demanded. "I heard an explosion!" "Yeah.That was me. I set the boat alight." "What?" "I set fire to the boat." "But we're on the boat!" "I know.

There's a dream world that we visit sometimes and that's how we found out who we are.

Childhood, after all, is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child.

He died fighting for what he believed in.

There's a name for people with an interest in the moon," Alex said. "They're called lunatics.

Routine is the one thing the can get you killed. It tells the enemy where you're going and when you're going to be there.

The worst time to feel alone is when you're in a crowd.

All that sadness. All that anger. It is the smoke that gets into your eyes. If you do not blow it away, how can you hope to see?

There are problems and there are children. It is our aim to separate the two.

Alan Blunt got in touch with me and asked me to put you up here for the rest of the week, to pretend that you're my son. I have to say, you don't look anything like me." "I don't look anything like myself either," Alex said.

You can kiss me if you like," she said. Alex let go of her and turned away. "Thanks, Fiona," he said. "But frankly I'd prefer to kiss the horse.

She tried to smile sympathetically, but with her face it wasn't quite possible.

Show Holmes a drop of water and he would deduce the existence of the Atlantic. Show it to me and I would look for a tap. That was the difference between us.

Then why don't you go and ---- yourself.

He had tattooed all of the names of the men he had killed on his body...unfortunately he had run out of room.

For all men are equal at the moment of death and who are we to judge them when a much greater judge awaits?

You weren’t in any real danger. We knew exactly where you were all the time.

He was a commander in the Russian army at a time when the Russians were our enemies and still part of the Soviet Union . This wasn't very long ago, Alex.The collapse of communism. It was only in 1989 that the Berlin Wall came down." She stopped. "I suppose none of this means very much to you." "Well, it wouldn't," Alex said. "I was only two years old.

Whatever you say, old boy. Just look after yourself. And whatever you do, don't swallow the gum!

Statues lined the stairs and stood, dotted across the roof. But they had been brutalized by time and the weather. Some were missing arms. Many had no faces. Once they had been saints and angels. Two hundred years standing in London had turned them into cripples.

You're nothing if you're not special.

The CIA agent looked more dead than alive. Alex wondered if he had been hit, but there was no sign of any blood. Perhaps he was in shock.

Your name?"The movements of the man's mouth didn't quite match what he was saying, so seeing him speak was a bit like watching a badly dubbed film. "Alex Gardiner," Alex said. "Your real name?" "I just told you." "You lied. Your real name is Alex Rider." "Why ask if you think you know?

The platform underneath the balloon fell on her as she was trying to escape," she explained. "She was crushed." "I'd have been disappointed too.

Was it fate? Was it destiny?" "I think it was Alan Blunt.

In the old days, spies had done they'd done because they loved their country, because they believed in what they were doing. But he'd never been given a choice. Nowadays, spies weren't employed. They were used.

My favorite part of writing a book is thinking up the ideas, and that can start a long time before I actually sit down at my desk.

Let me ask you a question Alex. What do you think is the greatest evil on this plant today?" "Is that including, or not including you?

You must have been going very fast." "I was, until I hit the fence.

I didn't set fire to the building." "No, but you did pull it into the river." "That put the fire out!

To enjoy something fully, you had to own it.

The school even had a Latin motto: Pergo et Perago, which sounded like the story of two Italian cannibals but which actually meant “I try and I achieve.

What were you going to do with it?” McCain asked. "I just thought it might come in useful.” "Were you planning to attack me?” "No. But that’s a good idea.

McCain might have suffered hardships in his life, but what had happened to him had nothing to do with his background or his color; they were convenient excuses now. He had been a psychopath from the start.

When you are rich, people treat you with respect.

You must do what you want.

You are meant to be here. There are no coincidences. It's all happening the way it was meant to be.

Look at self-satisfied pop singers or greasy, semi-literate athletes. People worship them. Why?” "Because they’re talented.

…my life has been a remarkable one. Maybe one day someone will write a book about me . . .” "I’ve never much cared for horror stories.

I think my reputation will look after itself," Holmes said. "If they hang me, Watson, I shall leave it to you to persuade your readers that the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right.

The birds fly in the wrong places and there are too many stars in the sky.

I hear it still. As I lay down my pen and take to my bed, I am aware of the bow being drawn across the bridge and the music rises into the night sky. It is far away and barely audible - but there it is! A pizzicato. Then a tremelo. The style is unmistakable. It is Sherlock Holmes who is playing. It must be. I hope with all my heart that he is playing for me . . .

I love writing different things.

We live in a world with so many dangers that we have to be careful whom we trust.

If you think it's hard getting in, you should try getting out.

You'd better get onto MI6. They'll be in charge of security at the airport." "Of course." Sir Graham moved toward the door. He stopped and turned around. "And what happens if you're wrong?" he inquired. "What happens if these soccer players do somehow get killed?" Kellner shrugged. "At least we'll know what we're dealing with," he said. "And they lost every single one of their games while they were in Nigeria. I'm sure we can put together another team.

When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.

A German philosopher once wrote that he who fights monsters must take care that he doesn't become one himself.

Let me tell you, Alex. He's a crook. He's based here in Miami. He's a nasty piece of work." "He's mexican" Troy added.

Do you realise how much trouble you're in?" "Perhaps I'll have some Weetabix after all.

So it's a coincidence. Just like you said. Two rich parents with two rich kids at the same school. They're both killed in accidents. Why are you so interested?" "Because I don't like coincidence," Blunt replied. "In fact, I don't believe in coincidence. Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. That's my job.

Strange though it is,Sarov still cares about you. He told me to leave you alone. But I think, this time, I must disobey the general. You are mine! And I intend to make you suffer..." "Just talking to you makes me suffer," Alex said.

But then, he thought, most politicians are small and shabby, the sort of people who have been bullied at school. That's why they become politicians.

He had followed the trail left by a dead man. It was only now that he realized it might lead only to a grave.

Smiling back at her, it occurs to me that I've never met a mean librarian.

Go to Venice. Find Scorpia. And you will find your destiny.

No offense, but I'd rather kiss the horse.

What is this place? Hogwarts? -- Alex Rider

If this is what you do to the winner, I'd hate to see how you treat the runner up.