" If you lose your purpose ... it's like you're broken. "
— Brian Selznick (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 types of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason, too. (p378)"
— Brian Selznick (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)

""My house had suddenly turned into a hospital ward.""
— Brian Selznick (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 (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 (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)

"A wingless bird, a burned up building, a splinter, a fly, a grain of sand. "
— Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)

"… 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."
— Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)