Quotes by Brian Selznick

About Brian Selznick:

Brian Selznick is an American illustrator and writer best known for illustrating children's books. He won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which was his first long work as a writer.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

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

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

Brian Selznick

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

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 mac...

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 f...

Brian Selznick

Sometimes I come up here at night, even when I'm not fixing the clocks, just to look at the city. I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they ne...

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

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

Brian Selznick

I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that ...

Brian Selznick

As I look out at all of you gathered here, I want to say that I don't see a room full of Parisians in top hats and diamonds and silk dresses. I don't see bankers and housewives and store clerks. No. I address you all tonight as you truly are: wizards...

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

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

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

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 f...

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

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...

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

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

Author Bio

  • NameBrian Selznick
  • DescriptionAmerican children's illustrator and writer
  • BornJuly 14, 1966
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Illustrator; Puppeteer
  • WorksThe Invention Of Hugo Cabret; Wonderstruck