James patterson quotes

If it's commercial fiction that you want to write, it's story, story, story. You've got to get a story where if you tell it to somebody in a paragraph, they'll go, "Tell me more." And then when you start to write it, they continue to want to read more. And if you don't, it won't work.

Sometimes being a leader isn’t about winning. Sometimes it’s about doing what’s right, instead of what’s powerful.

She had a lot of hugs to give, but not enough people to give them to.

Part 1- In search of Hot Chocolate-Chip Cookies

You're lucky if you find something you like to do, and it's a miracle if somebody will pay you to do it.

On the other hand, even a big, '80s love van was less noticeable than six flying kids and their talking dog. So there you go.

Yes," I said. "My name is seven-five-nine-nine-three-nine-ex-dash-one. Junior.

living life was like putting the beach into a jar. The point wasn’t to fit everything in; it was to attend to the most important things first—the big, beautiful rocks—the most valuable people and experiences—and fit the lesser things in around them. Otherwise, the best things might get left out

When its true, when it's right, love can give you the kind of joy that you can't get from any other experience.

I want to be a scientist who studies the ocean when I grow up. I would go out to sea, and scuba dive, and find new things, and National Geographic will hire me.” Sure, Nudge. Probably around the time I become president.

The act of laughing releases some nice chemical into your brain, you feel good and it's free.

I don't know why, but life is usually more complicated than the plans that we make.

I'm a very good storyteller; I have a lot of compassion for people. That's very useful for a novelist. A lot of novelists are snots. They're just mean people. I'm not a terribly skilled stylist, nor do I want to be. I want a lot of people to read one of my stories and go, 'That was pretty cool.'

I love you. I love your smile, your snarl, your grin, your face when you're sleeping.

So you have you price," I said with a mouthful of crumbs. "Your soul for a cookie." Fang made sure Dr. Martinez wasn't looking and then shot me the bird.

WARNING If you dare to read this story, you become part of the Experiment

Oh no! Don't drag us away from Antartica and take us to the playground of the rich and famous! Not that briar patch! -Max

You...are...a...fridge...with wings,' Fang ground out, punching an Eraser hard with every word. 'We're...freaking...ballet...dancers.

Basically, I have two speeds.... Hostile or smart-aleck. Your choice.

Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? Also no. We were six kids running for our lives, not knowing where our next meal was coming from. Could we afford to feed a dog? Wait for it—no.

Men suck, even imaginary ones

Your mind creates your reality. If you expect nothing, you open up the universe to give you options. If you expect the worst, you usually get it.

A boy and a girl, fated to rule all. Two will rise, and One will fall.

What are we but our stories?

Fang was going to kill me. And after I was dead, he would kill me again.

When I write I pretend I'm telling a story to someone in the room and I don't want them to get up until I'm finished.

Why was the blind guy playing with matches, you ask? Because he's good at it. Anything to do with fire, igniting things, exploding things, things with fuses, wicks, accelerants . . . Iggy's your man. It's one of those good/bad things.

How did you become blind, uh, Jeff is it?" Yeah, Jeff. Well, I looked directly at the sun, you know, the way they always tell you not to. If only I had listened.

I don't believe in lecturing people. It's much more effective to present reading as a fun, rewarding pastime.

Oh great. Yoda captured us.

A guy who hates his job isn't going to be too charming at home.

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you're keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls...are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.

What are you doing in there, waxing your mustache?” Iggy yelled, pounding on the bathroom door. I yanked the door open and pushed him backward hard, making him stagger. “I don’t have a mustache, you idiot!” Iggy giggled and put his arms up to protect himself in case I punched him. “And you know what?” I added. “You don’t have one either. Well, maybe in a couple years. You can always hope.” I left him in the hallway, anxiously fingering his upper lip.

I learnt to love reading. And then I started scribbling stories, and I liked that even more.

When are you going to trust me Max?" asked Fang. "When I go completely bonkers," I laughed.

Who ya gonna call?" "Ghostbusters!" "That phrase is ruined forever.

The whole duty of humanity, from a Christian perspective is: 'To know God and to show God.'

For example, you go to Fuji, and there are no animal attacks. Why? And I think that gets you into the world of "The Walking Dead" or "Lost." Humans start doing some weird stuff.

Dreams die hard. And sometimes they don't have to die at all.

A friend of mine once defined love as finding someone you can talk to late into the night

The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.

Knowledge is a terrible burden. It may help you, but it might also destroy you.

Let's just say that if these scientist had been using their brilliance for good instead of evil, cars would run off water vapor and leave fresh compost behind them; no one would be hungry; no one would be ill; all buildings would be earthquake-, bomb-, and flood-proof; and the world's entire economy would have collapsed and been replaced by one based on the value of chocolate.

I don't damsel well. Distress, I can do. Damseling? Not so much.

The weird, weird thing about devastating loss is tha life actually goes on.

Am I tough? Am I strong? Am I hard-core? Absolutely. Did I whimper with pathetic delight when I sank my teeth into my hot fried-chicken sandwich? You betcha.

Okay, okay, okay. I understood that pushing the elevator button over and over again would not make the elevator appear sooner. But I couldn't help myself

Another day. Get up and face it.

In my office in Florida I have, I think, 30 manuscript piles around the room. Some are screenplays or comic books or graphic novels. Some are almost done. Some I'm rewriting. If I'm working with a co-writer, they'll usually write the first draft. And then I write subsequent drafts.

There's a saying I remember from my grandmother: One today is worth two tomorrows.

"I feel like, like pudding," Iggy groaned. "Pudding with nerve endings. Pudding in great pain."

"So you have your price."... "Your soul for a cookie."

If you're in the room, I want to be next to you. If you're gone, I think about you. You're who I want to talk to. In a fight, I want you at my back. When we're together the sun is shining. When we're apart, everything is in shades of gray.

Jeezum—humans were like eggshells.

Yes, I sounded like a pathetic weenie. I prefer to think of it as showing my softer side.

Some kids get called "bundles of joy" or "slices of heaven" or "dreams come true." We got "the fifty-fourth generation of DNA experiments." Doesn't have the same warm and fuzzy feel. But maybe I'm oversensitive.

I looked into her eyes. "Mom, who do you pray to?" I just pray, Daniel. That's all.

The writing in Mission to Paris, sentence after sentence, page after page, is dazzling. If you are a John le Carr fan, this is definitely a novel for you.

A lot of writers fall in love with their sentences or their construction of sentences, and sometimes that's great, but not everybody is Gabriel Garcia Marquez or James Joyce. A lot of people like to pretend that they are, and they wind up not giving people a good read or enlightening them.

Just because life is hard, and always ends in a bad way, doesn't mean that all stories have to, even if that's what they tell us in school and in the New York Times Review. In fact, it's a good thing that stories are as different as we are, one from another.

I grew up in a house full of women: my mother, grandmother, three sisters, and two female cats. And I still have the buzz of their conversations in my head. As an adult, I have more female friends than male ones: I just love the way that women talk.

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

Max, you're acting like a child, the Voice said. You're above rebelling against your fate just to rebel. You've got a date with destiny. Don't be late." I brushed some hair out of my eyes. Is that a movie quote? Or is it an actual date? I don't remember destiny asking me. I never even gave destiny my phone number.

Better readers are better thinkers.

If you're not reading - with your heart as well as your brain - you will be one stupid grown up. Even worst, you'll be missing out on one of the best experiences you can possibly have. Nowhere will you meet more interesting people than in books.

There's nothing more annoying than cold logic and reason when you've got a good fit going.

maybe, beauty, true beauty, is so overwhelming, it goes straight to our hearts.maybe it makes us feel emotions that are locked away inside

A vet! I started laughing weakly and had to sit on the edge of the tub. A vet. Wait till they found out how appropriate that was.

The idea for Maximum Ride come from the earlier books of mine called When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which also feature a character named Max who escapes from a quiet despicable school. Most of the similarities end there. Max and the other kids in Maximum Ride are not the same Max and kids featured in those two books. nor do Frannie and Kit play any part in Maximum Ride. I hope you enjoy the ride anyways.

I'm not Stubborn; I'm right!

It's been said that love finds you when you're ready.

I’ve been listening to how the Roman Empire fell and all I can say is, it didn’t fall nearly fast enough!”-Iggy

So the first thing we're gonna do," I told him, "is push you off the roof.

I knew my transformation was complete when Dr.Keyes asked, "How are you feeling today, Tandy?" and I responded "I'm not

Half the time when brothers wrestle, it's just an excuse to hug each other.

I remembered something my first partner had told me. Never wrestle with a pig, Lindsay. You both get dirty. The pig likes it.

Pain fades,” I said slowly. “But being a nutcase seems to stick around. Guess who got the better deal here?” The last thing I remember is Mr. Chu’s face blazing with fury.

Let's face it: Most of us don't realize it, but we are failing our kids as reading role models. The best role models are in the home: brothers, fathers, grandfathers; mothers, sisters, grandmothers. Moms and dads, it's important that your kids see you reading. Not just books - reading the newspaper is good, too.

You know, I guess I just don't like to talk a lot about sad things. Now you know my flaw. What good does it do to talk about sad things in the past?

If you want to write for yourself, get a diary. If you want to write for your friends, get a blog. If you want to write for others...become an author.

Good memories are like charms...Each is special. You collect them, one by one, until one day you look back and discover they make a long, colorful bracelet.

Do you want to know the closest thing to feeling the most powerful you can feel ? Flying alone at night.Risky.Nothing but you and the wind soaring way above everything , Slicing through the air like a Sword. Up and up until you feel like you can grab a star and hold it to your chest like a burning, Spiky thing

Bad stuff happens. Sometimes it makes no sense at all. Sometimes its unfair. Sometimes, it just plain sucks. Bad stuff happens sometimes. Always remember that, but remember that you have to move on somehow. You just pick your head up and stare at something beautiful like the sky, or the ocean, and you move the hell on.

Being the leader means you have to make life or death decisions sometimes.

Home is wherever we all are together.

I moved to leave, and Dylan actually grabbed me by my shoulders. I was so surprised that I forgot to karate-chop his elbows and break his arms.

why can't you just get out of here and leave me alone?"i bellowed. "i can't!" dylan shouted back,his face twisted with an anger i'd never seen from him. "you can,"i said through gritted teeth."just point your wings that way and flap!

I had a question. "Why does the name Pearl Harbor sound so familiar?" The lieutenant colonel's eyes narrowed. "Pearl Harbor is the most famous U.S. military base in the world," he said crisply. "It's the only place on U.S. soil that has been attacked in a wars, since the Revolutionary War." None of this was ringing a bell, but you already know I'm totally uneducated. Gazzy leaned over to whisper, "It was a movie with Ben Affleck." Ah. Now I remembered.

Yes!” said Fang, punching the air. “Freaks rule.

Don't depend on others to give you strength....Find it within yourself

There's no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.

In a manner of speaking. As we intend for you to found a dynasty. And that dynasty will rule society until it has progressed enough to-" "Overthrow the dynasty in a revolutionary, blood filled coup!" Iggy said eagerly. We all looked at him. "Just saying." He sheepishly took a bite of cookie.

An unbearable smug look came over his usually impassive face."Uh-huh. You just keep telling youself that. You looove me." I took a swing at him, but he jumped back nimbly, and all I did was jar my left arm, making it hurt. He laughed at me, then pointed at the woods ouside the window."Pick a tree. I'll go carve our initials in it.

I never miss a good chance to shut up

Besides my great fashion sense? I play a mean harmonica.

You are an endless project...changing, evolving, surprising.

You see, one of the best things about reading is that you'll always have something to think about when you're not reading.

But what is life if you don't live it?

Max, you're the last of the hybrids who still has...a soul.' ... 'She doesn't have soul,' Gazzy scoffed. 'Have you ever seen her dance?

Dogs, dogs, go away, let me live another day.

Our parents were a test tube and a turkey baster.

What kind of thoughtless creep would burn a book?

Some poeple just don't have what it takes to appreciate a cookie.

As a maternal figure, I always try to keep the flock safe, of course. But I admit, it did my heart proud to see the instant blood-lust pop into Gazzy’s blue eyes and to see little Angel automatically tense up and get into fighting stance, ready to rip someone’s head off. They were just so — so dang adorable, sometimes.

It is my time. The time of maximum ride.

The weird, weird thing about devastating loss is that life actually goes on. When you're faced with a tragedy, a loss so huge that you have no idea how you can live through it, somehow, the world keeps turning, the seconds keep ticking.

you...are...a...frige...with...wings...we...are...freaking...ballet...dancers!

Love means never having to be apart

What test?" Asked Nudge. "Max, you're incorruptible." "Only by power." I said. "You haven't tried chocolate yet.

Never underestimate the power of funny, it moves mountains.

I hung my head, and I felt someone, Fang, gather me gently to him. My cheek rested on his shoulder, and my silent tears soaked his torn shirt.He felt warm and strong and heartbreakingly familiar. And at that moment, not a single thing in my life was certain, strong, or whole. Nothing. Least of all Fang.

Stop trying to write sentences and start trying to write stories.

I'm very emotional. I do feel stuff, for better or worse.

If Fang is in any way harmed while I'm gone-if he gets a hangnail-you won't see another morning. Are we clear on that?

Iggy: "Now what? Who you gonna call?" A quiet voice in the hallway outside: "Ghostbusters!" (Captain Perry and John groan) John: "That phrase is ruined forever.

I don't believe in making war with food. Food is not the enemy. Said by Claire in The 5th Horseman

Tears were dripping onto my dress, but I wasn't making any sound. There was no sound to express thid kind of pain. I didn't want to move, didn't want to do anything. Fang was not waiting for me out in the living room. Tomorrow morning, when I woke up, Fang would still be gone.

Seize what's been handed you. Make smart decisions. Make decisions because life is a temporary situation.

It’s, like, a safety bomb.” -Iggy

Assume nothing, question everything.

Because what’s worse than knowing you want something, besides knowing you can never have it?

Yeah,” said Iggy. “But what now? Let’s do something fun.” I guess being on the run from bloodthirsty Erasers and insane scientists wasn’t enough fun for him. Kids today are so spoiled.

I love you, i love your smile your snarl your grin, your face when your sleeping.I love your hair streaming behind you as we fly, with the sunlight making it shine, if it doesn't have too much mud or blood in it, I love seeing your wings spreading out, white and brown and tan and speckled, and the tiny downy feathers right at the top of your shoulders. I love your eyes, whether they're cold or calculating or suspicious or laughing or warm, like when you look at me.

Popcorn for breakfast! Why not? It's a grain. It's like grits, but with high self-esteem.

But if I could do anything? Maybe you would want to be able to save the world, the Voice said. Did you ever think of that? No. I frowned. Leave that to the grown-ups. But grown-ups are the ones destroying the world, the Voice said. Think about it.