Quotes from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“I address you all tonight for who you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Maybe we are all cabinets of wonders.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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 means you have to be here for some reason, too.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made. ”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose...it's like your broken.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Even if all the clocks in the station break down, thought Hugo, time won't stop. Not even if you really want it to.

Like now.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“I hope the snow covers everything so all the footsteps are silenced, and the whole city can be at peace. ”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Sometimes I come up here at night...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 need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Fairy tales only happen in movies."
-George Melies

from The Invention of Hugo Cabret”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“In that moment, the machinery of the world lined up. Somewhere a clock struck midnight, and Hugo's future seemed to fall perfectly into place.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Like a mermaid rising from an ocean of paper, the girl emerged across the room.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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 machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was made to do." Isabelle picked up the mouse, wound it again, and set it down. "Maybe it's the same with people," Hugo continued. "If you lose your purpose...it's like you're broken.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“She walked to the rear door and took out a bobby pin from her pocket. Hugo watched as she fiddled with the pin inside the lock until it clicked and the door opened. "How did you learn to do that?" asked Hugo. "Books," answered Isabelle.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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 fly right into the eye of the man in the moon. Father said he had never experienced anything like it. It had been like seeing his dreams in the middle of the day.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“It looks like the whole city is made out of stars.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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. That's what happened to me. Once upon a time, I was a boy named Hugo Cabret, and I desperately believed that a broken automaton would save my life. Now that my cocoon has fallen away and I have emerged as a magician named Professor Alcofrisbas, I can look back and see that I was right. The automaton my father discovered did save me. But now I have built a new automaton. I spent countless hours designing it. I made every gear myself, carefully cut every brass disk, and fashioned every bt of machinery with my own hands. When you wind it up, it can do something I'm sure no other automaton in the world can do. It can tel you the incredible story of Georges Melies, his wife, their goddaughter, and a beloved clock maker whose son grew up to be a magician. The complicated machinery inside my automaton can produce one-hundred and fifty-eight different pictures, and it can wrote, letter, by letter, an entire book, twenty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-nine words. These words.

THE END”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“My house had suddenly turned into a hospital ward.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“How did you learn to do that?" asked Hugo. "Books," answered Isabelle.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Si dejas de tener un propósito en la vida es como... como si te rompieras.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Having an eye patch actually makes it easier to look through a camera - I don't have to close one eye like everyone else.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“«Si alguna vez te has preguntado de dónde vienen los sueños que tienes por la noche, mira a tu alrededor y lo sabrás. Aquí es donde se hacen los sueños».”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Si dejas de tener un propósito en la vida es como… como si te rompieras.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Tal vez sea esa la razón de que las máquinas rotas resulten tan tristes: ya no pueden cumplir con el propósito para el que fueron creadas.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“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 need. So I figure if the entire world is one big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”
― Brian Selznick, quote from The Invention of Hugo Cabret

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And now we go our separate ways, each believing that we are right.

My father has made his choice, and I have made mine.

I am, at last, my own man.

I can live with that.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World

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― Thomas King, quote from The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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