Ken Follett

Listen, I wrote 10 unsuccessful books before I broke through, so I'm looking all the time to keep my books fascinating. I want to write what people want to read, not push any message.

Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands - it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.

You see, all that I ever held dear has been taken from me," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "And when you've lost everything-" Her facade began to crumble, and her voice broke, but she made herself carry on. "When you've lost everything, you've got nothing to lose.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.

I want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next.

When I'm writing a woman character, I don't think, 'What would a woman do?' I just think, 'What would this character do in this situation?'

Well, for people who want to write best sellers, the best advice I can give is to say that the novel has to engage the reader emotionally.

A baby was like a revolution, Grigori thought: you could start one, but you could not control how it would turn out.

She wanted to say 'I love you like a thunderstorm, like a lion, like a helpless rage'.