Quotes from 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

If you lose your purpose ... it's like you're broken.

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.

Y entonces pienso que, si el mundo es un gran mecanismo, tiene que haber alguna razón para que yo esté en él.

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?

Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reason? … 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 meant to do. … Maybe it's the same with people: if you lose your purpose, it's like you're broken.

The world is like a machine, there is no extra parts so your are meant to do something, even if you are a little rusted.

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

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.

Si dejamos volar nuestros sueños, podemos ser capaces de todo.

Even a broken watch is correct twice a day.