88 James Patterson Quotes About Reading (WRITING)

Top 16 Most Famous James Patterson Quotes (BEST)

“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.”
James Patterson

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. — 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.

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.

“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.”
James Patterson

I don't want to write a book that's just entertainment. It has to say something, to provoke something in people's minds. — I don’t want to write a **book** that’s just entertainment. It has to say something, to provoke something in people’s minds.

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. — **Passion** is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.

The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.

You can't save everybody. In fact, there are days when I think you can't save anyone. Each person has to save himself first, then you can move in and help. — You can’t save everybody. In fact, there are days when I think you can’t save anyone. Each person has to save himself first, then you can move in and help.

Imagine what you want to achieve in life, then believe it can be done. Focus on your goal until you're satisfied with your progress. — Imagine what you want to achieve in **life**, then **believe** it can be done. **Focus** on your **goal** until you’re satisfied with your progress.

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. — The **truth** will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

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

“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.”
James Patterson

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

Never underestimate the power of funny, it moves mountains.

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

6 Inspirational James Patterson Quotes About Life

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

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

I don't smile as much as I should, even though I smile inside a lot. — I don’t **smile** as much as I should, even though I smile inside a lot.

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

Somebody said the key to life is to work hard, play hard, rest hard, and I've pretty much adopted that. — Somebody said the key to life is to work hard, play hard, rest hard, and I’ve pretty much adopted that.

2 James Patterson Quotes on Obstacles and Tragedies

“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.”
James Patterson

“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.”
James Patterson

12 James Patterson that Will Make You Think

“Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out. It’s called Four Blind Mice and it’s a pretty amazing story about several murders inside the military.”
James Patterson

Ultimately, a great thriller is a roller coaster ride. I like to think that's a promise I have never failed to keep, and one that I'd say has served my books well. — Ultimately, a great thriller is a roller coaster ride. I like to think that’s a promise I have never failed to keep, and one that I’d say has served my **books** well.

“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.”
James Patterson

“The vampire underworld is much larger than most people could imagine. It exists in all the cities mentioned in the book, but also in many, many more. Teenagers, especially, seem to like to act out vampire fantasies.”
James Patterson

“This summer, I’ll be bringing out a mystery that involves a young lawyer and a court scene the likes of which I don’t think you’ve ever seen. Hollywood said this is James Patterson meets John Grisham.”
James Patterson

Hollywood is a peculiar beast - people in Hollywood are nuts. — Hollywood is a peculiar beast – people in Hollywood are nuts.

“I read some, and then visited with people involved in this curious, exciting and somewhat misunderstood sub-culture. I met with a fang maker, who offered to fit me for an exquisite pair.”
James Patterson

“I don’t get a chance to be funny with the thrillers. I like to be funny, and I think I am really funny. So with ‘Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life’, it was fun to let loose.”
James Patterson

“People always come up to me and say, ‘you should do standup.’ It’s nice to discover things about yourself. That keeps everything lively and fun.”
James Patterson

“You know, I remember watching Morgan Freeman when he did the two Alex Cross movies, and he’s so confident that he’s going to knock the scene dead. And I’m really confident that I can tell a good story now, so I just don’t worry about things.”
James Patterson

“I get up every morning and chop wood, and I pretty much do it seven days a week, and I like to do it. I still have time for my wife and my son, who’s 14, and at this point, my head is still above water.”
James Patterson

3 Funny James Patterson Quotes to Ponder

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

I have a folder in my office with about 400 ideas in it. So it will take me another 40 years to get through those.

18 James Patterson Quotes on Writing

“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.”
James Patterson

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. — 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.

“It seemed to me that I could write commercial fiction. I wasn’t sure whether I could, or whether I wanted to write serious fiction at that point. So I said, ‘Let me try something else,’ and I wrote a mystery – but I didn’t know much about it.”
James Patterson

I did know that the book would end with a mind-boggling trial, but I didn't know exactly how it would turn out. I like a little suspense when I am writing, too. — I did know that the book would end with a mind-boggling trial, but I didn’t know exactly how it would turn out. I like a little suspense when I am writing, too.

“When I was 26, I wrote my first mystery, ‘The Thomas Berryman Number’, and it was turned down by, I don’t know, 31 publishers. Then it won an Edgar for Best First Novel. Go figure.”
James Patterson

I have a number of writers I work with regularly. I write an outline for a book. The outlines are very specific about what each scene is supposed to accomplish.

“I’m big on having a blistering pace. That’s one of the hallmarks of what I do, and that’s not easy. I never blow up cars and things like that, so it’s something else that keeps the suspense flowing. I try not to write a chapter that isn’t going to turn on the movie projector in your head.”
James Patterson

I'm not a writer's writer. I'm not a craftsman. I could be, and that would be a one-book-a-year operation. — I’m not a writer’s writer. I’m not a craftsman. I could be, and that would be a one-book-a-year operation.

“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.”
James Patterson

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

“I’ve always been into ‘fast-paced, don’t bore ’em, keep it moving along, stick with the story.’ You know: tell a story the way I want to hear a story. I find it more rewarding to write for kids, but I also find it a little easier, because you can just let loose a little bit more in terms of fantasy and stuff.”
James Patterson

A lot of times you get people writing wonderful sentences and paragraphs, and they fall in love with their prose style, but the stories really aren't that terrific. — A lot of times you get people writing wonderful sentences and paragraphs, and they fall in love with their prose style, but the stories really aren’t that terrific.

If I'm writing and a chapter isn't coming, I just move ahead. — If I’m writing and a chapter isn’t coming, I just move ahead.

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

I guess I write four or five hours a day, but I do it seven days a week. It's very disciplined, yes, but it's joy for me. — I guess I write four or five hours a day, but I do it seven days a week. It’s very disciplined, yes, but it’s joy for me.

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. — 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.

I don't think of myself as a writer. — I don’t think of myself as a writer.

Life's too short to read books you don't like. — Life’s too short to read books you don’t like.

11 James Patterson Quotes on Parents and Kids

“Kids don’t read as much as you’d like them to, just in terms of seeing the world from different perspectives. I mean, that’s the great thing about books, still. Here’s television, here are the movies, and it’s pretty limited in terms of the perspectives.”
James Patterson

“What I’m really addicted to is getting people to understand that if their kids aren’t competent readers coming out of middle school, it’s really going to be hard for them in high school.”
James Patterson

“This is what I believe is most important: getting good books into the hands of kids – books that will make them want to say, ‘Wow, that was great. Give me another one to read.'”
James Patterson

“I believe we should spend less time worrying about the quantity of books children read and more time introducing them to quality books that will turn them on to the joy of reading and turn them into lifelong readers.”
James Patterson

“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.”
James Patterson

“With my adult books, for the first six weeks or so, it’s about 60 percent eBooks in terms of sales. The kids’ books, it’s like 5 percent. Which means that the parents, the ones that aren’t going into stores now, they’re no longer buying books for their kids, which is not great.”
James Patterson

“There are a lot of things we as individuals can’t do much about. We can’t solve global warming as individuals, or health care problems, but as individuals, most of us can get our kids reading. We can do that.”
James Patterson

“I always figured there would be a kid audience and an adult audience, and there is. That’s true for ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Twilight’ and ‘Harry Potter.’ And ‘Maximum Ride,’ for sure. In particular what happens is a lot of parents share the books with their kids, and the mom has read it, and the kids, and they talk about it.”
James Patterson

“Schools and parents can team up to find books that kids will really get excited about – that will make them say, ‘That was a great experience. Now I know why people get excited about reading.'”
James Patterson

“Generally I find that kids ask better questions than you get with adults. Something that kids will do a lot is, they’re so nervous, and they’re not really paying attention, so they’ll ask the same question someone just asked. And you’re trying to be nice and not embarrass them any more than they are already.”
James Patterson

It's our job - as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles - to find books our kids are going to like. — It’s our job – as **parents**, grandparents, aunts, uncles – to find books our kids are going to like.

12 James Patterson Quotes on Reading Books

“I never read detective novels. I started out in graduate school writing a more serious book. Right around that time I read ‘The Day of the Jackal’ and ‘The Exorcist’. I hadn’t read a lot of commercial fiction, and I liked them.”
James Patterson

I think e-books are terrific in their own right. I love being able to get on a plane and basically carry around seven books and it weigh 10 ounces.

“One of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies to some extent is it’s not a passive entertainment. People really do get involved, and they do create, and they do have their own visions of what different characters look like and what should happen. It’s great – it means their brains are working.”
James Patterson

The subject for a lot of non-fiction is very emotional, but if you read it, it's the most boring, dry stuff. I wanted 'Torn Apart' to be extremely accessible and readable. — The subject for a lot of non-fiction is very emotional, but if you read it, it’s the most boring, dry stuff. I wanted ‘Torn Apart’ to be extremely accessible and readable.

“Commercial books don’t even get covered. The reason why so many book reviews go out of business is because they cover a lot of stuff that nobody cares about. Imagine if the movie pages covered none of the big movies and all they covered were movies that you couldn’t even find in the theater?”
James Patterson

My favorite books are actually very complicated - 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', 'Ulysses'. — My favorite books are actually very complicated – ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, ‘Ulysses’.

“I didn’t care for most of the books I was being asked to read in school. I started reading like crazy right after high school when I got a job in a mental hospital. I was working my way through college, and I did a lot of night shifts, and there was nothing to do. So I read like crazy, serious stuff, all the classics.”
James Patterson

The more you read, the better you get at it.

“One of the interesting things about YA books – I don’t know about Percy Jackson, but I do know about ‘Twilight’ and ‘Maximum Ride’: There are a lot of adult readers. In fact, we released ‘Maximum Ride’ both as a paperback for kids and as a mass release for adults.”
James Patterson

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

I was always a good student, but I didn't read that much until I was 18 and I was working my way through college. — I was always a good student, but I didn’t read that much until I was 18 and I was working my way through college.

There are reasons people seek escape in books, and one of those reasons is that the boundary of what can happen is beyond what we do - or would want to see in real life. — There are reasons people seek escape in books, and one of those reasons is that the boundary of what can happen is beyond what we do – or would want to see in real life.

2 James Patterson Quotes on Love

A lot of people like the idea of eternal love and eternal romance. The notion of love that is more profound and deeper because it is eternal is very powerful.

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

6 James Patterson Quotes on Story-telling and Entertainment

“Life is hard, and a lot of people come home tired from work. If they’re gonna spend half an hour reading, they want some entertainment and a sense of achievement. So that’s what I give them. That’s all I’m trying to do. Is that really so wrong?”
James Patterson

A good love story always keeps the pot boiling.

“I’m very conscious that I’m an entertainer. Something like 73 percent of my readers are college graduates, so you can’t condescend to people. You’ve got to tell them a story that they will be willing to pay money to read.”
James Patterson

I love to tell stories. It's a delight for me. — I love to tell stories. It’s a delight for me.

“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.'”
James Patterson