Well, everything surprises me about the writing process because illustrating comes much more naturally to me than writing does.

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.

I guess I see a part of myself in everyone I write about. I tend to write about kids who are obsessed with something, and even though I have never been good with machines the way Hugo is, I did love miniature things when I was a kid.

Having an eye patch actually makes it easier to look through a camera - I don't have to close one eye like everyone else.

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.

I think I always knew that I would do something with art because it was the one thing that I knew I was really good at.

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.