Cornelia Funke Quotes

There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors.

Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.

The world is a library of strange and wonderful books, and sometimes we just need to go prowling through the stacks.

There is that romanticized idea of what a bookstore can be, what a library can be, what a shop can be. And to me, they are that. These are places that open doors into other worlds if only you're open to them.

Childhood has its secrets and its mysteries; but who can tell or who can explain them!

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.

Books were the window from which I looked out of a rather meager and decidedly narrow room onto a rich and wonderful universe. I loved the look and feel of books, even the smell... Libraries were treasure houses. I always entered them with a slight thrill of disbelief that all their endless riches were mine for the borrowing.

The great thing about books is that you can end with a question mark.

If there were no mystery left to explore life would get rather dull, wouldn't it?

If there wasn't mystery, people wouldn't have anything to ponder. If you already knew everything, you wouldn't have anything to think about and life would just be really boring.

Reading is as much a part of life as any part, and it's life itself. And it allows us to live other lives that we might not have lived if we hadn't picked up those books.

I'm always looking for the potential mystery in everything; I can't imagine writing about anything else.

Secrets and mysteries provide a beautiful corridor where you can float out. The corridor expands and many, many wonderful things can happen... I love the process of going into mystery.

Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so I'll stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to it, although it's difficult.

I spy with my little eye a great story.

It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere.

Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you're working. Tell them it's research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.

A book is like a door. You walk through the cover and you don't know what you're going to find.

I understood right from the start that every set of library doors were the sort of magic portals that lead to other lands. My God, right within reach there were dinosaurs and planets and presidents and girl detectives!

I would like to uncover the secrets of the universe.

Savor the mystery, Stephen, we don't get enough of them.

I had this desire to see the world. I couldn't see any of it, but I saw it in my imagination, and that's why I always read books, and I could go to Mars or Middle Earth or the Hyborian age.

I read a lot of highly unsuitable books for an 11-year-old. I was desperate to read as widely as possible. I thought, 'There are so many places I am never going to get the chance to visit, but I can if I read them.' And I did. I could go anywhere in the world - and off it - by reading.

Most writers are drawn to what is unknown, rather than what is clear in any tale.

What drove me and kept me going over the decades? If I had to use a single word, it would be 'curiosity.'