Anthony Horowitz quotes:

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.

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

What is this place? Hogwarts? -- Alex Rider

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.

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.

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

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.

I fear dying in the middle of a book. It would be so annoying to write 80,000 words and not get to the end. I'm phobic about it. So when I'm writing a book I leave messages all over the house for people to know how the story ends, and then someone can finish it for me.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

I start work at 7 A.M. and write all day, seven days a week. If I don't write, I can't sleep.

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

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

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.

We have an hour before we have to leave," Cray said. "So I thought I might tell you a little about myself. I thought it might pass the time." "I'm not really all that interested," Alex said.

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

I love writing different things.

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

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.

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

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

We have no money. We have no possessions. Maybe that is why we value the things we do have ... loyalty and friendship.

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.

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.

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

Everywhere, publishers are being squeezed out.

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

It was quite elementary,' returned the detective with a languid gesture of one hand.

You look at me as if I were a conjuror,' Holmes remarked, with a laugh.

masa kanak-kanak adalah koin berharga pertama yang dicuri oleh kemiskinan dari seorang anak

You're my closest friend and you're thousands of miles away.

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.

I enjoy scaring people.

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.

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

Inside every fat man, there's a thin man trying to get out.

It's funny how things work out sometimes.

My father was aloof, very strange and very distant.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

I don't know what I'd do without you. There's no one else to look after me. And it's not just that. I sometimes think you're the only person who really knows me. I only feel normal when I'm with you.

We're meant to be friends but you never tell me anything.

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.

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.

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

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

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

When are you at your most defenseless?

You're never too young to die.

Nice day for a funeral.

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.

Sometimes it's the tiniest things that can mean the difference between life and death.

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

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.

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.

It has been the dream of very few men to rule the entire world. - Dr. Grief

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

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

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.

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

You're nothing if you're not special.

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

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?

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?

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

â?¦my life has been a remarkable one. Maybe one day someone will write a book about me . . .â? "Iâ??ve never much cared for horror stories.

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

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.

Look at self-satisfied pop singers or greasy, semi-literate athletes. People worship them. Why?â? "Because theyâ??re talented.

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.

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

I have a couple of questions," he said. "Do, please, go ahead." "My first one is for Yassen Gregorovich." He turned to the Russian. "Why are you working for this lunatic?" "I sometimes think that I was richer when I was eight years old than most people will be in their lifetime!" "Do we have to listen to this?" Alex asked.

You're trying to tell me that everything you've done is for a good cause. You think that all this killing is worth it because of the results. I'm not sure I agree. Lots of people work for charity; lots of people want to change the world. But they don't have to behave like you.

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

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 . . .

Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right.

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.

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.

Oh-do be careful with that! That's my Buddha hand grenade. Twist the head twice and throw it and anyone within ten yards can say their prayers.

To enjoy something fully, you had to own it.

You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are.

Your temperature's normal, though I'd say it's the only thing about you that is.

Believe me, It would be better if we didn't meet again. Go back to school. Go back to your life. And next time they ask you, say no. Killing is for grown-ups and you're still a child.

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.

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.

I don't know anything!' Tim(Caleb) wailed. He'd never spoken a truer word in his life.

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

Alternatively you can twist the cylinder round twice clockwise; that turns it into a hand grenade. Five-second fuse. I tested it on one of my assistants. Poor old Bennett... he should be out of hospital in a couple of months.

There are many things in life that cannot be explained.

Some things can't be changed. They'll always happen the way they were supposed to.

He hadn't done anything. He hadn't needed to. Just being there was enough.

There are few things in the world that we don't know. Science has explained everything away.

You must do what you want.

We live in an age when there is no room for the impossible.

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