The Invention of Hugo Cabret Quotes

“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

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

“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

“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, 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, 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

“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

“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, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

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

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

“Like a mermaid rising from an ocean of paper, the girl emerged across the room.”
― 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

“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, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

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